Trivia question for Jun-20-2011

Olivia likes these guys and has even held one during one of their educational outreach programs they host.  Let’s see how she does with her trivia. These are among the most diverse group of lizards. They make up the second largest of the lizard families (after the geckos) with about 1200 species.

These lizards are generally carnivorous and largely eat insects, including crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, and caterpillars. They also eat earthworms, millipedes, snails, slugs, isopods, other lizards, and small rodents. Some species, particularly those favored as home pets, have a more varied diet and can be maintained on a regimen of roughly 60% vegetables/leaves/fruit and 40% meat (insects and rodents).

So here are Olivia’s questions: Tell us what type of lizard this is and where they can be found.  Also, tell us how they give birth and how many young they typically have?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations to Cate Donoghue (from Atlanta GA) and Cherrie O’Keeffe (a Clemson Fan) for being the first with the correct answers. Cate identified the species and Cherrie identified were they live. The lizards we featured are Skinks. Skinks are the most diverse group of lizards. They make up the family Scincidae which shares the superfamily or infraorder Scincomorpha with several other lizard families, including Lacertidae (the “true” or wall lizards).

Skinks are widespread throughout Australia, including the small island of Tasmania: one species exists only on the islands of New Guinea and Indonesia off the Northern coast of Australia.  Unlike most other lizards, Skinks in the genus Tiliqua do not lay eggs; they give birth to live young.  Here is more on these cool looking lizards: Skinks

Thanks for playing along 😉