One of the most diverse lizard families, with more than 1,500 species. Most skinks have small legs and hardly any neck, and some have no limbs at all. Many can shed their tail to escape a predator and regrow it in about three to four months.
Quick answers
What is it?Reptile
Carnivore?Insects only
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Daytime
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?Sometimes
Blue-tongued skinks were among the first lizards kept as pets and are still kept today.
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inWorldwide
ColoursBrown, Blue, Black
SizeSmall
Legs4
Covered inScales
Lives alone
Lives for5–20 years
Can swim
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Almost worldwide, in every kind of habitat except arctic and subarctic regions.
- What it eats
- Mostly insects such as flies, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles and caterpillars; some species kept as pets are omnivores.
Did you know
Some species have bright blue tongues they flash to startle predators.
About 45% of skink species give birth to live young, and a few nourish them through a placenta.
Blue-tongued skinks of Australia and New Guinea bare their large blue tongue as a bluff warning.
Often confused with
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