Short-tailed skink: Treats its tail as a priceless treasure. This lizard is so fat and lazy it looks like a scaly cat

The logic of the Australian fauna is given to understand only the elite. Here, diurnal predators hunt at night, a mix of duck and beaver swims in the water, and lizards value their tail like a priceless treasure. One such reptile is the short-tailed skink, a plump reptile with a very thick tail and a strange tongue.

Wow, live bastard!

Unlike most animals in Australia, the skink doesn't want to kill you. Yes, even with all the desire, he would not be able to do this - he has neither poison nor large teeth. And because of the huge weight for its size (a whole kilogram!) And small paws, the lizard looks like a fat cat: it is just as slow and lazy.

The face of your cat when you accidentally stepped on his tail.

The main secret of Boris' skink is his very small and fat tail. It is of strategic importance on several counts at once. Point number one is defensive. The thick flat tail looks like a second head. Predators at the sight of a two-headed dragon fall into a state of bewilderment. And while the toothy fool is trying to strain all his convolutions, our hero, sorting through his short legs.

What are these expired kozinaki.

If the trick with the second head did not work, the skink has another way to cause cognitive dissonance in the enemy. He opens his mouth, exposes his bright blue tongue and starts clicking it loudly. Here, according to the logic of the lizard, the attacker's head should explode from overvoltage. But if this measure does not work, the reptile resorts to the classic kushu. And quite painful: the jaws of the skink are quite powerful, and the teeth, although small, are sharp.

Yes, yes, we understand that you are very scary.You can't puff up.

But, despite this, the lizard prefers plant foods, only occasionally biting on living creatures. Excess fat is stored in the tail of the lizard, which is why this gherkin swells to a size comparable to the head. This is the strategic function of tail number two, stockpiling. The larger the tail, the greater its value. Therefore, the reptile has neither the desire nor the opportunity to discard it. The accumulated fat is used by the lizard in summer hibernation during the wildest drought.

Don't even try to match him for being photogenic. Unless you're a lizard.

As for personal life, here the short-tailed skinks are faithful to each other to the grave. Literally. The animal prefers a solitary lifestyle, but when the time comes to make children, the male returns year after year for a decade to his only passion.

“Well, are we going to do this…?” — That is, a person with a camera does not bother you at all?

For their loyalty, the couple is rewarded with one or two cubs, which are under the supervision of their parents for several months. Dads are so filled with their parental duty that they are on alert 24/7 in case the family is attacked. Amazing care for a cold-blooded animal.

Two armored twins.

The skink is so faithful to the people who have chosen it as a pet. Its unpretentiousness, pretty appearance and relative safety against the background of the local fauna makes it very popular in the narrow circles of amateur herpetologists. Attached to the owner, the lizard will caress like a cat. Only she is dressed in heavy scaly armor.

With you was the blog "The Book of Animals"
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