Little Brown Skink

Although my encounter was very quick seeing a little brown skink (Scincella lateralis) it still amazed me by its quick retreat into the pine needle substrate. In Caw-Caw Interpretive Center the environment is very diverse from wetlands to drier pine forest in just a few steps, the amount of reptiles that can be seen are endless. My encounter with the little brown skink was in the drier part of the pine forest. It was on a fallen branch, which was surrounded by pine needles. When I attempted to catch it quickly disappeared. Its movement was very snake like moving through the needles with ease. The skink was very easy to identify although it took me a couple of seconds to think about it. Its copper brown single bold dorsal stripe led me to my identification. It was most likely around 4 inches long and had extremely small legs. Little brown skink have an extremely large home range covering most of the eastern part of the United States.

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