This little prairie skink was a little too slow getting under cover as I walked past him in the prairie yesterday.  As a result, he suffered the indignity of being transported back to our field headquarters where he was placed in a cardboard box for a short period while I photographed him.  (I let him go again as soon as I got a couple good shots.) 

From the looks of things, it wasn’t the first time he’d been a little slow.  He was missing his tail – a sign that he’d run into trouble recently.  (Skinks can abandon their tail to avoid predation, and then grow another one.  A nifty little trick!)

A prairie skink. The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies, Nebraska.

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From this angle you can really see the orange coloring of the jaw. Male skinks get this coloration during the breeding season. You can also see the external ear – one of the characteristics that helps distinguish lizards from snakes (legs, of course, are another pretty good clue, though not all lizards have them.)