Adaptations of the Western Skink

The western skink is a small species of lizard native to America. It grows to a little less than 8 inches in length and has a slender body type. The skink's tail is usually 1.5 to two times longer than its body and it is bright blue from birth into adulthood. As the lizard ages, the tail color fades to a more subdued shade, more similar to the rest of its body.

  1. Physical Adaptations

    • The main body of the western skink has a pattern of tan and brown stripes, which likely offers camouflage in leaf litter. The small size of the animal helps it to avoid being seen. It has adapted to be able to function between a wide temperature range of 57 to 93 degrees. This helps the skink to live within a wide range, which includes most of the western U.S. and southwest Canada. The pointed snout of the species helps it to excavate small burrows for itself in which it lives and breeds.

    Behavioral Adaptations

    • The skink has developed a stalking and sprinting method of catching its prey. It will slowly move closer to small insects such as flies, grasshoppers and beetles, and will launch a sprinting attack when close enough. It can move quickly and catch the prey by surprise. To avoid being seen, the lizard tends to hide much of the time under rocks or natural debris. During the colder winter months, the western skink hibernates, generally in communal dens with other skinks and sometimes with snakes and other types of lizards.

    Breeding Behavior

    • To help insure the safety and success of its young, the western skink has adapted a few rarer behaviors. Most lizards will lay eggs and leave them alone to hatch. The western skink mother lays a clutch of two to six eggs in July or August in the burrow and stays with them. The mother goes outside the burrow to bask in the sun, warming her body, and then returns to curl around the eggs to help incubate them. The mother also aggressively tries to defend the eggs from predators.

    Predator Defense

    • The western skink tends to choose retreat over standing and fighting, but will try to bite attackers if given the chance. Like many lizard species, the skink is able to break off sections of its tail if it is grabbed by a predator. The bright blue coloring of the tail is likely to help distract the predator as the tail, once broken off, will keep twitching while the skink runs away.