Skinks May Be Lizards but Pose No Danger to Humans
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SHOPPING?: Need a dog, a place to live, or a car? See the Classefides. | 3C OutdoorsThe Paducah Sun | Saturday, July 23, 2011 | paducahsun.com Section C Skinks may be lizards but pose no danger to humans Think skink Our everyday lizard, blue- tailed or not, has little bite and absolutely no sting or toxin The world’s largest lizard, the dangerous Komodo dragon, isn’t much different than our most common lizard, the fi ve-lined skink. Well, yes, the Komodo dragon outweighs the skink by about 150 to 180 pounds and may kill a wa- Steve Vantreese ter buffalo for dinner, but all of that is relative. The skink looks junior skinks of about two inches like equally bad news to a tiny long. Females actually are pretty beetle. good mothers, tending to laid Admittedly, we would have eggs, probably guarding them to trouble comfortably co-existing an extent, until they hatch. with Komodo dragons, but we Five-lined skinks are fast-mov- easily share our environment ing predators that hunt a variety with fi ve-lined skinks. They don’t of insects and spiders. Biologists even rate pest status. In fact, say they may catch and eat other because they eat bugs, skinks smaller lizards and have even should be seen as allies of sort. been known to eat baby mice. The fi ve-lined skink most com- On the fl ip side, skinks are monly seen is about six inches preyed upon by raccoons, opos- long and slender, gray-brown to sums, snakes, hawks, crows and STEVE VANTREESE black with fi ve yellowish stripes maybe even some larger song- A five-lined skink that sports a bright blue tail is one that remains immature and hasn’t attained full growth. and a vividly blue tail. birds. That image of a skink, however, The fact that predators with a stone and concrete readily as isn’t all there is. Most often, the taste for skinks are around may be rocky habitat for hunting. blue-tailed skink is an immature some explanation for why the liz- People don‘t all appreciate individual. Males turn more uni- ards sport bright blue tails much skinks. Misguided folklore leads formly brown as they reach full of their lives. Perhaps the bold some people to identify the little growth, up to eight inches or a bit blue is more visible to predatory lizards as scorpions, associating more. The lines fade. It appears eyes, because the skinks would the blue tail with a poison impart- as a different species but is just a prefer attackers went for it fi rst. ed by a sting or maybe even a bite. grown-up version of the striped, The reason that’s so is the Factually, Kentucky is not to- blue-tailed skink. skink can detach the tail if some- tally free of scorpions, but these A mature male also develops thing grabs it. The jettisoned tail have nothing to do with skinks. some rosy-red color on its face then continues to wriggle on its The little lizards have nothing and head during the spring mat- own, holding the attention of the with which to punish humans. ing season to impress the lizard predator while the abbreviated, They’ll bite if caught, but their STEVE VANTREESE ladies. stumpy-bottomed skink slips teeth are tiny and they lack the A five-lined skink with faded stripes, overall brown color and a touch of red on The female skinks themselves away. jaw power to infl ict any real dis- its head is a mature male. also go through some transi- A skink that parts with its tail comfort, much less damage. They tion as they mature, though not can grow a new one. Biologists certainly have no stinger. The devil scorpion does pack a exclude western Kentucky in gen- so much as the boys. A female’s say, however, that replacement The skink’s vastly larger, far- toxin which it can infl ict by sting, eral. They are more noted in east- stripes fade as she browns out tails never grow quite as long, so away cousin, the Komodo drag- although it‘s called only mildly ern Kentucky, but most people in the body, but her tail doesn’t maybe the skink doesn’t take los- on, packs around a bacterial tox- painful and unlikely to pose a in that part of the state likewise quite follow suit. It changes to a ing his original equipment lightly. in that poisons via bite and slowly health hazard to any but the most never see them. sort of grayish or purplish blue. Five-lined skinks live in the kills prey that is even bigger than highly allergic people. On the other hand, west Ken- Right about now, numer- woods, hunting in and around itself. The tiny skink, by contrast, In Kentucky, where devil scor- tucky does hold oodles of fi ve- ous short juvenile skinks can be leaf litter and over rocks, stumps has no toxic weaponry for either pions do exist, they hunt at night lined skinks. Then again, they found scampering around where and logs. They don’t live an arbo- offense or defense. and stay under something most certainly aren’t scorpions or any- adults are common. These are real life in the tree tops, but they Kentucky is home to one real of the time in daylight. They sel- thing like them. part of a hatch that starts in June will dart up and down the trunks scorpion, the southern devil scor- dom interact with people and are and may run into August. after prey. pion, with the typical features of rarely seen. Steve Vantreese, a freelance outdoors Female skinks lay eggs — 12 or Skinks adapt well to life around pincers and upward curling tail Documented specimens of writer, can be contacted at outdoors@ 15 of them in a batch — that hatch human homes, using bricks, with stinger in the aft end. southern devil scorpions seem to paducahsun.com. Kentucky’s best trout fishing finally up to speed after epic rains BY STEVE VANTREESE brown trout, fi shing from tion out of Kentucky Dam at 270-443-2828, they said. pecially from the Illinois Meanwhile, a Western Kentucky’s fi nest trout boats, wading or shoreline Village State Resort Park. ■ Driskill Tactical Train- River, which is well known Kentucky University team fi shing — the Cumberland casting. Trout numbers Schmitt and Carson also ing will offer a class toward as a waterway in which the fi nished fi fth. River below Wolf Creek and growth reportedly had the biggest single bass, the educational require- bighead and silver carp In fi rst place were Jonas Dam at Lake Cumberland have declined somewhat a 3-12. ment for Kentucky’s hand- population exploded at the Ertel of London and Tyler south of Jamestown — is during two past summers Sgt. 1st Class Stacey Du- gun concealed carry permit expense of native species. Moberly of Berea. They just getting right again as of lower lake elevation and igan of Knoxville, Tenn., beginning at 9 a.m. July 31 BAI tournament offi - claimed a $10,000 victory it recovers from the same stress from warmer water, fi shed with Paducahans at Elite K9, 7660 Old U.S. cials said competitors took — $7,500 for EKU’s bass monsoon-like rains that but a strong population of Frank Puckett and Jus- 45 in the Leeder Bottom about 48,000 pounds of club and $2,500 for the fl ooded far western Ken- the fi sh remains, reported tin Penrod to take second area. The cost is $75 plus a the invasive carp from the school itself — by catching tucky and its reservoirs in KDFWR fi sheries chief Ron place with an 11-13 limit. $5 fi ring range fee. river during an eight-hour a fi ve-fi sh limit weighing the spring. Brooks. Staff Sgt. Leon Marceis of A $25 deposit and ad- period. 17 pounds, 12 ounces. They Kentucky Department of The biologist said the Fresno, Calif., and Chad vance registration is re- Robb Kemper of Team picked their limit from Fish and Wildlife Resourc- rainbow and brown trout Gentry of Benton were quired online at the website Fish Slayer, a squad of bow- about 15 keepers, small- es managers say the upper fi shery will be boosted by third with a limit and 10 www.driskilltacticaltrain- fi shers from Iowa, brought mouth and largemouth Cumberland’s trout fi shing about 12,000 brook trout pounds even. ing.com or by e-mail to in a 59-pound, 4-ounce mixed, that they caught on for weeks essentially was stocked in the river early Sgt. Steve Kilburn of [email protected]. bighead, which became the soft plastic tubes and sur- scuttled by high currents. this year. They will add op- Zephyrhills, Fla., and The class size is limited. new state record for the face lures. Ongoing repairs at Wolf portunities as they grow James Lee of Ledbetter, ■ If weighty results are species. The old record, a WKU’s Andy Southard of Creek Dam requires to into the 15-inch minimum claimed the honor for the any indication, the recent 43-pound, 5.6-ounce big- Hanson and Cody Napier Corps of Engineers to keep size on the species, Brooks smallest legal (15-inch Bowfi shing Association of head, was set just last year of Beechcreek, Ky., claimed Lake Cumberland 40 feet said. minimum) keeper, a 1-11 Illinois Director’s Shoot on the Des Plaines River in fi fth place with a 13-6 limit.