Identifying Skinks

I do some of my field work up in the Mokomoko Dryland Sanctuary, near Alexandra.
This is a small predator fenced area. Several grand and Otago skinks were released into this area and some of my work is searching for them to see if they are still there!

When we find a skink we have to try to get some photos of them - which is easier said than done! Ideally we would get a side-on photo of each side of the skink.

We use these photos to identify the skinks. Before the skinks were released reference photos were taken of each skink - left side and right side. We use those reference photos to see if we can identify the skinks we are seeing in the Mokomoko sanctuary. Each skink has a unique pattern around their head - kind of like our fingerprints.

When I get back to the DoC office I download the photos I have taken and see if I can identify which skink is which. I look carefully at the patterns around it's eye and along to the vent (hole on the side of it's head)

Have a go - can you tell which skink this one is? Is it A, B or C?

Skink 1

Skink A

Skink B

Skink C

How about this one? A, B or C

Skink 2

Skink A

Skink B

Skink C

Reply in a comment below - Skink 1 is:

                                              Skink 2 is:
Remember to leave me your name (first name only!) and room number so I can reply to you and put your entry into the competition!

Skinks in New Zealand

The grand and Otago skinks are two of our most endangered, rare skinks in New Zealand and you probably won't see them in your backyard but we do have other skinks and these ones you will be able to see!

There are about 33 different species of skinks found in many different places around New Zealand and almost half of those species are endangered or threatened.

You can find more information about skinks (and geckos) on this page from the Science Learning Hub.

The most common native skinks you are likely to see in your garden are:
Common skink (Oligosoma polychroma)


McCann's skink (Oligosoma maccanni)


If you see these skinks and you have a cat - watch out - cats are one of the worst predators of skinks! If you can, keep your cat in at night to help protect our native skinks.

Keep your eyes peeled - the best way to spot skinks is on a warm, sunny day around rocks and tussocks - you need to be very quiet and move very slowly to see them sitting still. Try to get a photo of one when you have become a great spotter. Send me your skink photos and I'll publish them on the blog.

Setting up a skink habitat

Last week my job was to set up a small skink habitat for some Otago skinks we are recieving from Wellington Zoo. The skinks will only be with us a short time so it is just a simple cage setup for them to live in while they are here.

Here is how you set a temporary skink habitat up:

1) Clean out the cage! If your cage has been used before it needs to be cleared of mess from the previous tenants.

 2) Add soil for the ground base.

3) Add a variety of schist rock - the skinks use the schist to sunbathe on and to live under. It is important when putting the rock in that you make room for the skinks to go under the rocks and make sure everything is stable so they don't get squashed!

Can you tell me why it is important that the skinks can have somewhere to sunbathe?

4) Add some driftwood and plants.


5) Use old bottle lids for water and food containers - just the lids, otherwise the water will be too deep!



Now we are ready and waiting for our skinks to arrive - hopefully I get to go to the airport to pick them up!

Skinks!

Skinks? What are skinks?

Well these are skinks and these videos show you the two places I am working - Macraes Conservation Area and the Mokomoko sanctuary in Alexandra.

In particular these are the grand (Oligosoma grande) and Otago (Oligosoma otagense) skinks and they are very special - especially to Central Otago!

Grand and Otago skinks are quite rare - DoC has classified them as Nationally Critically Endangered, which means they are very rare and threatened with extinction - they have the same status as the Kakapo. They are two of New Zealand's largest and rarest lizards.


Monitoring and working with grand and Otago skinks are one of the main things I am doing on my science programme. In Alexandra there is a small sanctuary that some lizards live in. I spend some of my time looking for the lizards and photographing them.

The reason we photograph the lizards is so that we can identify which individual skink they are. Grand and Otago skinks have distinctive patterns on the side of their heads and down their body that allow us to identify who they are. Each skink has a different pattern and by comparing previous photos we can tell who is who.

The main place to find the skinks is at Macraes Conservation Area and I will be spending a week at a time living there and helping with their skink work.

Here are some interesting facts about grand and Otago skinks:

(see if you can find out what the words in BOLD mean)

                They are OMNIVORES. They eat small soft fruit, invertebrates (insects), other plant life and occasionally other small skinks.

                They live on rocky schist outcrops in tussock grasslands and can be found around Lake Hawea, Lindis Pass, Alexandra, Macraes Flat and a few other places. They are very rare so you would be very lucky to see one in the wild.

                 Cats, stoats, weasels, ferrets etc are their main predators but hedehogs are also a big problem. Hedgehogs are not only predators of the skinks but they are also competition - they eat the same things skinks do so then there is less food for the skinks.