📸 PhotoPhoto: TimVickers · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Source
Solomon Island Skink
Corucia zebrata (Solomon Island Skink · オマキトカゲ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum weight of about 0.79 kg is roughly the weight of one and a half 500 mL bottles of water (Comparison).
- 💡 Its maximum length of 72 cm equals two and a half 30 cm rulers (Comparison).
- 💡 Logging has reduced its habitat, it is consumed as food, and after heavy past exports for the pet trade, export is now banned (Smithsonian's National Zoo).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Solomon Island Skink is an arboreal lizard living in the rainforest canopy of the Solomon Islands, and is a rare lizard that feeds mostly on leaves and plants.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its long, slender body reaches up to 72 cm to the tip of its tail, and it has a prehensile tail capable of grasping objects. Its weight is usually 14–28 ounces (about 0.4–0.8 kg).
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It lives in trees and feeds mainly on plants. Viviparous, it nourishes its young through a placenta-like structure and gives birth after a 6–8 month gestation to offspring about 1/3 the size of an adult.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List NT (2021) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/196593/2463961
- • IUCN Red List category NT — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 6B64B
- • iucnredlist.org — 2463961
- • wikidata.org — Q591268
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Corucia zebrata (2).jpg
- • nationalzoo.si.edu — prehensile-tailed-skink
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Gopal Murali · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Sphenomorphus dussumieri)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.