Natural History: My brief encounter with a coal skink (Eumeces anthracinus)

Over my spring break, some friends and I went to the southern Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina to go camping. We were about an hour outside of Asheville, NC at a place called Linville Gorge Wilderness located inside Pisgah National Forest. When we first found our camping spot, I heard rustling in the underbrush and went over to find this little guy:

He didn't seem too happy that we had invaded his sunny mountain spot, and tried to get away as I  took out my camera to take some pictures. I immediately noticed the red on his head that led me to believe he was a male. We have learned in our herpetology class that this coloring is an example of  sexual dimorphism, and happens to various species in the family Scincidae during breeding season. He was a bit too fast for me to catch, and scurried away from sight after a few close up shots.

It made sense that he would be out in the open since it was one of the first sunny, warm days of March. Our campsite was in a clearing that at the time was receiving a lot of sunlight, and the temperature had warmed to about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Here is a picture of where we were to give you an idea of the environment:

Since reptiles are ectotherms, the skink was taking advantage of one of the first warm days of spring in order to warm his internal body temperature up.

After going home, I looked up all of the local species in family Scincidae in order to figure out what species I had seen. There are five species that can be found in North Carolina, including the ground skink, broadhead skink, five-lined skink, southeastern five-lined skink, and coal skink. I could immediately rule out the ground skink based on the stripes on the side of the skink that I found. The ground skink usually has a thick dark stripe on its side, but does not have the distinct white stripes on either side of the stripe. The size of the species I found was also larger, around 6-7 inches long with a heavier body than the ground skink. I could also rule out the broadhead skink because the shape of the head on the broadhead is much wider than the head of my skink. Out of the three species left, both of the five-lined species have thicker, light lines on their back. From this picture, you can see that the back of the species I found did not have these distinct, light stripes:

In addition, the southeastern five-lined skink is commonly found in sandy areas and coastal plains. You can see from the picture I took of the campsite that we were on a rocky mountain side, at an elevation of around 3000ft. After learning that coal skinks are commonly found in the southern mountains, and often prefer "rocky bluffs overlooking creek valleys (Wilson et al.)," I was sure that this was the species I had encountered. The coal skink (Eumeces anthracinus) usually has only four lines on its back, and the light stripes on the sides of the animal extend toward the tail. This fits the description of the species I found. This coal skink was clearly a male, since the sides of the head turn red at the beginning of breeding season, which takes place in late spring/ early summer.  This also indicates that the individual I found was not a juvenile because it was reproductively mature. 
  
Rustling in the underbrush throughout our stay on the mountainside was a constant reminder that we were sharing our campsite with a local. I was lucky to be able to find this species while I was camping, because we won't be encountering it on any of our herpetology field trips. Since all of our field trips are in the Charleston, South Carolina area, we will be far from the mountainous habitat of the coal skink. 

Citation: J. Willson, Y. Kornilev, W. Anderson, G. Connette and E. Eskew. Davidson Herpetology.
 http://www.herpsofnc.org/herps_of_NC/lizards/Eumant/Eum_ant.html