What is a skink?

Almost one fourth of all the lizards in the world are classified as skinks. They are small fellows with smooth and often rounded scales. Some have very short legs and some have only one or two toes on their little feet. The skinks, named from a Greek work for lizard, are very common in Africa and Asia. In North America, we have only about 20 members of the skink family.

Our skinks are night foraging lizards. They have very long tails and short, stubby legs. We can usually tell them from other lizards by their forked tongues and the fact that they prefer to hide in shady places rather than bask in the sun. Most skinks give birth to fully formed babies.