Look With Your Eyes…Closed?
Today we're farther along the same pathway as we were on our last walk together, the tall pine trees overhead knocking together again in the wind. This week though, we’ve come up to a boardwalk taking us over a stretch of the forest that is a seasonal wetland—meaning in the rainier span of the year it is swampy, but isn’t during the dry part.
It’s a Little Brown Skink!
Careful! This tiny friend is easy to mistake as a little twig if you catch them basking in your path. The little brown skink, or sometimes called the ground skink, is one of the smallest reptiles in North America—only reaching about 3-5.5 inches. Some may call them ground skinks, but the common name ‘ground skink’ can refer to many different species.
Surely you’ve heard of moms, teachers, etc., having eyes in the back of their heads right? These little lizards don’t quite have that talent, but they can see with their eyes closed! They have a transparent disk on their lower eyelids to give them this little superpower. That isn’t their only way to observe their environment though, like snakes and many other lizards, the little brown skink also flicks its tongue to learn more about what’s around it. And if they do find something they feel is a big threat that they need to urgently flee? They are able to detach their tail as a distraction to confuse the predator; though it’s usually only done as a last resort if they feel they can’t escape otherwise. This strategy isn’t without consequence though. It has been shown that they tend to be slower, don’t escape as far, and are less active afterwards if they have dropped their tail. No need to fear too much though, they can regrow a new tail in a couple months.
Where to find:
Little brown skinks are largely forest floor dwellers, but can sometimes be found near the edges of streams and ponds in the southeastern quarter of the United States and into northeastern Mexico. While some species of skinks like to climb trees to hunt for food, when these little ones aren’t basking in the warmth of the sun, they stick to burrowing under leaf litter or hiding under logs and other similar shelters.
In the coldest parts of the year, little brown skinks hibernate underground until February-March when they come out for their breeding season until August. During this warmer time, females may lay multiple clutches of eggs, which hatch one-two months later.
In the more southern parts of their range, it’s not uncommon for them to be active year-round.
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Today's newsletter includes information referenced from iNaturalist and Animal Diversity Web