Riffian skink facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Riffian skink |
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Chalcides
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| Species: |
colosii
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The Riffian skink (scientific name: Chalcides colosii) is a type of lizard. It's also sometimes called Colosi's cylindrical skink. This medium-sized lizard belongs to the skink family, Scincidae. You can find it living in Morocco and some Spanish areas in northwestern Africa. The skink was named after Giuseppe Colosi, who was a director at the Zoological Institute of the University of Florence. For a while, some scientists thought it was a subspecies of another skink, the ocellated skink. Female Riffian skinks give birth to live babies, which is pretty cool!
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Is the Riffian Skink Endangered?
The number of Riffian skinks might be slowly going down. However, this lizard is not in any major danger right now. The IUCN lists it as "Least Concern." This means it's not a threatened species.
Even though the area where it lives is smaller than 20,000 square kilometers (about 7,700 square miles), its home is large and not badly threatened. Scientists also believe there are many Riffian skinks in the wild. Some things that could possibly harm the Riffian skink include more tourism and new farms being built.
Where Do Riffian Skinks Live?
The Riffian skink lives in Morocco. It also lives in the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, which are in Africa. You can find it on a small Spanish island called Isla de Tierra, which is near Peñón de Alhucemas. It's not very common in the western parts of these areas.
We don't know exactly how many Riffian skinks there are. But we do know they like to live in places that are semi-dry or a bit humid. They can be found up to 1,500 meters (about 4,900 feet) high in the mountains.
Riffian Skink Habitat
These skinks are most often found in rocky areas. This includes places with piles of stones or hillsides with loose soil and some grass. You might also spot them near sandy beaches along the coast or in grassy fields.
What Does a Riffian Skink Look Like?
The Riffian skink looks a bit like the ocellated skink (C. ocellatus). But there are ways to tell them apart! The Riffian skink does not have "ocelli." Ocelli are eye-like spots that some animals have.
Instead, the Riffian skink has dark stripes on its sides. It has a moderately dark stripe down the middle of its back. On each side of this middle stripe, there are two even darker stripes. The rest of its body is a solid light color. Adult Riffian skinks are usually between 6 and 12 centimeters (about 2.4 to 4.7 inches) long, not counting their tail. This measurement is called snout-to-vent length (SVL).
Riffian Skink Reproduction
Riffian skinks are viviparous. This means that the mother skink gives birth to live young. The babies develop inside the mother's body and are born alive, rather than hatching from eggs laid outside the body.
