King Skink

This photograph was taken at the Armadale Reptile Centre in Perth.

The king skink lives in rocks and is diurnal (active during the day).

An adult is approx 240mm long, from snout to vent (not including the tail). You can see the large fingers and toes with long claws. You can also see on the photograph the large ear opening.

It can live in small colony groups among limestone or granite.

What do they eat?

This large skink feeds on coastal plants and flowers and is omnivorous which means it also eats insects, smaller lizards and sea birds eggs that nest in the dunes for those that live near the ocean.

This cricket was seen at Dryandra woodlands where I saw a King Skink.

Confined only to the south western of Western Australia including Rottnest and Garden islands.

It will live in the burrows of shearwaters and penguins, dug out under large rocks.

Bares live young, usually two in summer.

Here are two young King Skinks. As they get older they will loose most of their yellow spots.

"At the Armadale Reptile Centre they have observed them hanging upside down from a tree and climb a brick wall. These skinks will drop their tails when threatened and chase other lizards introduced to their enclosure."

This king skink was seen at Lane Pool in Nanga in October. There were around 5 sunning themselves on granite rocks beside the water. They don't seem to mind having small territories around each other.

(We don't catch wildlife to photograph it)

Lane Pool in Nanga in October. Photograph by Mary Heslan. Copyright

This king skink was seen at Penguin Island just off Rockingham in March. There is a large population of king skinks here and they don't mind coming out around people.

Penguin Island is a limestone island.

Update;

This big King skink was seen in Margaret River in January. Its burrow was under a granite rock. It was seen about 3-5km inland

Here you can see the long digits on its hind foot used for digging out its burrow

Other Places I have seen King skinks;
I have seen a dark brown king skink at Dryandra woodlands that was sunning itself on the dirt road and quickly disappeared into the thick bark and leaf litter from the Wandoo trees.

Text;
"Reptiles and Frogs of the Perth Region" by Brian Bush, Brad Maryan, Robert Browne-Cooper and David Robinson.
"Australian Reptiles A Photographic Reference to the Terrestrial Reptiles of Australia" by Stephen K Wilson, David G Knowles.
Kingskinks