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Fact Sheet: Prehensile Tailed Skink
Corcucia zebrata
Description:
 Size:
o Length: Up to 32 in (81 cm)
 Weight: may weigh over 2 lb (1000 g)
 Physical description: Have a broad head with large scales and a very stout neck. Toes are
long and end with large claws. Tail is elongate and may be longer than the main body.
 Coloration: Base body color is olive to green with dark stripes running along the back.
In the Wild
Habitat and Range:
 Geographic range: Endemic (native to only) the Solomon Islands, an archipelago east of
Papua New Guinea
 Preferred habitat: Tropical rain forests. Are almost exclusively arboreal, which means
they spend the vast majority of their time in trees.
Diet:
 Herbivorous
o Primarily folivorous, consuming large quantities of leaves
Adaptations:
 Long toes: The long, powerful toes of the skink are equipped with hooked claws that act
as climbing picks. The strong feet can dig into the bark of a tree and help the skink rest
anywhere with little risk of falling.
 Prehensile tail: Unusual among lizards, the tail is prehensile, which means that it can be
used to grasp. It is longer and better-muscled than other lizard tails, and is used as a
fifth leg to hold on while the skink is climbing. Due to the unique nature of the tail, it
cannot be dropped to distract predators, unlike most other skinks.
 Camouflage: The skink’s stripes give it a cryptic coloration, which means it can easily
camouflage amongst the trees.
 Slow: The typically sluggish movement of the lizard further helps it hide. The slow
movement draws less attention to the skink than fast movement.
 Defensive behavior: When cornered, the skink will attempt to defend itself first by
hissing, then by biting if the threat is not deterred by the hiss.
Lifespan:
 Wild: Unknown
 Captivity: Up to 15 years
Ecosystem relationships:
 Predators: Large birds of prey and introduced cats
11/16/2015
Prehensile Tailed Skink
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
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o The skink’s large size, combined with its nocturnal behavior, ensures that it has
few predators. Barn owls are likely the main source of predation.
Role/ Niche: As a relatively large herbivore, the skink acts as a natural gardener,
controlling the growth of native plants. Additionally, digestion and excretion of the
nutrients in these plants adds fertilizer to the productive rainforest environment.
Reproduction:
 Breeding season: Year round due to the lack of traditional “seasons” in most rainforests
 Behavior: Typically copulate in the early evening for 5-15 minutes.
 Gestation: Last for 6-7 months.
 Litter/ Offspring: Are ovoviviparous, which means that the eggs hatch inside the
mother’s body. Typically give birth to 1 or 2 very large offspring, which may be up to half
the size of the mother.
o Unlike most other reptiles, prehensile tailed skinks display parental care towards
their young, and may even adopt orphaned young. They will help the young to
forage and provide protection.
o Young skinks may eat the feces of adults in order to obtain the gut flora
(intestinal bacteria) necessary for digestion of their preferred food source.
 Maturation: Sexual maturity typically achieved around 2 years
Activity:
 Nocturnal
o Mainly active at night
 Social behavior:
o Highly unusual among lizards, groups of skinks may live in a bonded group
known as a circulus, which may contain one or more bonded pairs of adults and
several other related and unrelated skinks.
Other “fun facts”:
 Island giant: The prehensile-tailed skink is the largest skink species in the world. This is
likely due to a phenomenon called island gigantism, in which small animals grow to
large sizes due an abundance of resources and lack of predators.
 What’s in a name?: The species genus name Coruscus comes from the Latin word for
“shimmering,” alluding to their shiny scales, while the specific name zebrata,
“zebra-like,” references their striped pattern.
 Allopatric speciation: This skink is unique likely due to allopatric speciation, which refers
to the evolution of new species as a result of geographic barriers. In this case, the land
bridges linking the Solomon Islands to New Guinea disappeared over 1 million years ago,
and evolution resulted in a lizard species that is very different from any others in the
family.
 What is a skink?: Skinks are a group of lizards typically characterized by a cylindrical
body with almost no neck, though the technical definition involves a unique structure in
the palate of the skull.
Conservation Status and Threats:
11/16/2015
Prehensile Tailed Skink
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
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Not listed on the IUCN Red List
CITES- listed under appendix II, which limits the trade by use of permits and fees.
Threats:
o Habitat loss is likely the major threat facing these lizards. Because they live in
forests that are targeted by loggers, much of their habitat is being lost quickly.
They are particularly susceptible because they tend to live in the oldest, biggest
trees in the forest—trees which offer loggers the most profit.
o Because of their typically docile nature, they are sometimes caught for the pet
trade. The low birth rate means that populations cannot easily recover from the
loss of young.
o Sometimes hunted for food by locals, who consider the meat to be a delicacy.
o All population threats can be particularly damaging to this species because they
are only found on a small chain of islands, and have little space in their range
that can act as a refuge should they become endangered.
At the Zoo
Solomon and Pacific are the Zoo’s prehensile-tailed skinks. Solomon is a male, born in 2007,
while Pacific is a female born in 2009. They both came from the Philadelphia Zoo.
What We Can Do
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Make sure you know the origin of the products you buy – buying something imported
illegally supports the black market by sustaining demand
o Ex. Rosewood is still being illegally imported from Madagascar despite bans on
logging because people are still buying it
Support the conservation efforts of local organizations like The Maryland Zoo as well as
organizations working in the field to protect wildlife and conserve habitat
Do your research before buying a pet
o Make sure you are not purchasing a wild-caught individual – captive-bred species
are often easy to find
o Make sure you know how to properly care for any animal before you decide to
buy it as a pet
 Reptiles can be difficult pets—they have specific diet, temperature, and
housing requirements. In this case, the animal requires the creation of a
leafy habitat in which they can climb.
References:
 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3402196/
 http://seaworld.org/animal-info/animal-bytes/reptiles/solomon-island-gecko/
 http://www.lpzoo.org/animals/factsheet/prehensile-tailed-skink
 http://www.saczoo.org/document.doc?id=314
11/16/2015
Prehensile Tailed Skink
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore