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Acontias plumbeus
Specimen about 15-17 cm, but can grow up to 40 cm. This skink can be found in various habitat types from desert sand and coastal dunes, dry shrubland and savanna, to woodland humus and forest floors.
Spotted at the Northern entrance of the Mlawula Nature reserve. Savanna/Woodland. Semi-dry area.
The receptionist holding the lizard is very brave. She is very afraid of snakes and it took her a lot of courage to hold this, even if I convinced her it was not a snake. We looked at the differences together and once she managed to hold it, the guys around were brave enough to do the same thing :)
Thank you for your comments Adi, Sunny and Tom :) Tom, when this lizard moves it also looks very awkward. I think that they really would have found some legs quite useful...
The information on Wikipedia has this one at 40cm, so this must be a young one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acontias
Yes Searra. You hav to get pretty close to see the lizard features, and many people prefer to stay away from things that looks like a snake :)
I have to say that this lizard had more trouble moving that I though it would have. It moved sideways/forward as a snake, but it took him a long time to even move a meter on tarmac. But I guess that without legs, it is easier to get into small holes in the ground, like termite and ant nests.