Five-lined Skink (Joe Crowley)
During my holidays this summer at Jack Lake near Apsley, we saw a Common Five-lined Skink on our dock from August 8 to 12 – except when we had a camera handy to take a photo! Our cottage is in Brook’s Bay. My son saw one a couple years ago on our sundeck but none until this recent sighting.
Sheelagh Hysenaj
Note: The skink is a species at risk in Ontario. The southern Shield population is classified as “of special concern”. When attacked by a potential predator, a skink’s tail can “autotomize”: spontaneously break off and thrash for several minutes, distracting the predator so the lizard can escape. The tail is able to grow back at a rate of about six millimetres a week.(D.M.)
