Coal skink facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Coal skink |
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Plestiodon
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anthracinus
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The coal skink, also known by its scientific name Plestiodon anthracinus, is a type of lizard. It lives only in North America.
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What Does a Coal Skink Look Like?
Coal skinks are small lizards. They usually grow to be about 13 to 18 centimeters (5 to 7 inches) long. This measurement includes their body and their tail. Their body alone, from snout to vent (SVL), is about 7 centimeters (2.7 inches).
These skinks have four light stripes on their bodies. These stripes continue all the way down their tail. They also have a wide, dark stripe along their sides. Unlike some other lizards, they do not have light lines on top of their head.
During the spring breeding season, male coal skinks can have reddish sides on their heads. This color change helps them attract mates.
Types of Coal Skinks
There are two main types, or subspecies, of the coal skink:
- The Northern coal skink (Plestiodon anthracinus anthracinus)
- The Southern coal skink (Plestiodon anthracinus pluvialis)
The Northern coal skink was first described by a scientist named Spencer Fullerton Baird in 1850. Later, in 1880, Edward Drinker Cope identified the Southern coal skink as a separate subspecies.
Southern coal skinks often have light spots with dark edges on their upper lips. They also tend to have more rows of scales around the middle of their body.
How Coal Skinks Reproduce
Coal skinks usually mate in the spring or early summer. After mating, the female skink lays a clutch of about 8 or 9 eggs.
The eggs hatch after about four to five weeks. The baby skinks are very small, only about 5 centimeters (2 inches) long when they hatch. Young coal skinks have a bright blue tail.
Baby Northern coal skinks have stripes just like the adult skinks. However, young Southern coal skinks usually have black bodies. They might have only very faint stripes, or no stripes at all.
Where Do Coal Skinks Live?
Coal skinks like to live in damp, wooded areas on hillsides. They often hide under piles of leaves or loose stones. You might also find them near springs or on rocky cliffs that overlook creek valleys.
If a coal skink feels threatened, it will quickly escape into shallow water. It can dive to the bottom and hide under stones or other things in the water.
The Northern coal skink (shown in blue on the map) lives in parts of western New York and central Pennsylvania. It also lives in scattered groups in the Appalachian Mountains.
The Southern coal skink (shown in orange on the map) can be found along the eastern Gulf Coast. This area stretches from the Florida panhandle to Louisiana. They also live west of the Mississippi River, from eastern Kansas and central Missouri to eastern Texas and northern Louisiana.
In some areas, like Alabama and Georgia, both types of coal skinks can be found living together. These mixed areas are shown in green on the map.
