Bluetail 2 0

The IUCN lists the Red-flanked Bluetail as a species of 'Least Concern'. Further Information: 1) BirdLife International - Red-flanked Bluetail 2) WhatBird - Red-flanked Bluetail 3) BirdFellow - Red-flanked Bluetail Photo Information: Photo by Frankie Chu - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License. Bluetail is a simple and stylish accessory made using the Tunisian crochet technique. Working from one corner to the opposite corner creates vertically-oriented ridges that have a beautiful texture thanks to the alternating rows of Tunisian simple stitch and Tunisian purl stitch. Bluetail Medical Group Regenerative Medicine & Sports Medicine located in Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, and Wisconsin. Patients who choose Bluetail Medical Group have the unique advantage of receiving care from a team of doctors who are leaders in the fields of sports medicine and regenerative medicine.

• Bluetail 2 0 M
• Bluetail 601

Growing up in the Bavarian mountains, Kurt Wagner was a member of a traveling circus who was kidnapped as a German captive of the Weapon X project as an early teen, and was, like Rogue and Wolverine, forced to become one of their mutant agents through brutal training regiments. However inhumane their treatment of him, Kurt refused to forget his idealism and faith. He even managed to convince.

The blue-tailed bee-eater (Merops philippinus) is a near passerinebird in the bee-eaterfamily Meropidae. It is widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia where many populations are strongly migratory, and seen seasonally in many parts but breeding colonially in small areas across their range, mostly in river valleys, where the nest by tunneling into loamy sand banks. They are seen mostly in open habitats close to water.

Description[edit]

This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It is predominantly green; its face has a narrow blue patch with a black eye stripe, and a yellow and brown throat; the tail is blue and the beak is black. The three outer toes are united around their bases. It can reach a length of 23–26 cm, including the two elongated central tail feathers which can jut two inches more than the remaining ten feathers.^[2] Sexes are alike. This species is usually found near water and like other bee-eaters it predominantly eats flying insects, especially bees (as large as the Xylocopa sp.^[3]), wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. They may also forage in flight over estuaries, backwaters and even over the sea but not far from the coast.^[4] This species probably takes bees and dragonflies in roughly equal numbers. The insects that are caught are beaten on the perch to kill and break the exoskeleton. This habit is seen in many other members of the order Coraciiformes.^[5] They call mainly in flight with a rolling chirping whistling teerp.^[2]

The only confusable species within its range is the blue-cheeked bee-eater which however tends to be found in drier areas. The blue-tailed differs in having the rump and tail blue rather than green and black. The undertail feathers are bluish rather than green in the blue-cheeked. The blue cheek patch is much smaller while the chestnut on the throat and breast darker and covering a larger area.^[5]

They breed in April to May in India nesting colonially with closely placed nest holes in a vertical mudbank or even burrowing into gently sloping land. They tend to choose sandy and sandy clay loams but avoid heavier clay loams.^[6] They also prefer clear mud banks without any vegetation cover.^[7] In Sri Lanka, they have been noted to breed in artificial sand dunes created by dredging of sea sand.^[8] The nest tunnel can run nearly 2 metres deep. About 5 to 7 near spherical eggs are laid. Both the male and the female take care of the eggs. The parents guard the nest to prevent intraspecific brood parasitism and extra pair copulation. These birds also feed and roost communally.^[5] One or two helpers may join the breeding pair after incubation begins.^[9] Although males and females appear similar to the human eye, males tend to have longer central tail feather extensions and UV reflectance studies demonstrate that healthy males had darker chestnut throats and brighter green body plumage while females showed brighter blue rumps and yellow chins.^[10]

Taxonomy and systematics[edit]

This species has sometimes been considered to be conspecific with the blue-cheeked bee-eater which is a close sister taxon, the two forming a clade with the Madagascan olive bee-eater.^[11] In the past the species has been treated variously as M. persicus javanicus, M. superciliosus javanicus, and M. superciliosus philippinus.^[12]

Ecological interactions[edit]

Based on the presence of spores of Nosema ceranae in the droppings of blue-tailed bee-eaters, it has been suggested that they may be capable of distributing the parasite to bees across a wide geographic range.^[13] A species of feather louse, Brueelia superciliosa has been described from hosts of this species in Thailand.^[14]

Distribution and movements[edit]

The species has a patchy breeding distribution across India, Myanmar, and parts of Southeast Asia.^[12] In India they are known to breed in several of the river valleys including those of the Godavari, Kaveri, Tunga Badra and Krishna rivers.^[15] They also nest in the eastern parts of Sri Lanka.^[16][8]

Blue-tailed bee-eaters are seasonal in many parts of their range and are known to migrate diurnally en masse at some places like Tanjung Tuan (W. Rayman origins 1 0 1 – magical adventure game. Malaysia) and Promsri Hill^[17] (southern Thailand).^[18] They are winter visitors in parts of Malaysia and peninsular India.^[19] The non-breeding ranges of the blue-cheeked bee-eater and blue-tailed overlap in some parts of Gujarat^[20] and western peninsular India.^[21]

Status[edit]

The Blue-tailed bee-eater is listed as a species of least concern by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.^[1]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abBirdLife International (2012). 'Merops philippinus'. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)old-form url
2. ^ ^abWhistler, Hugh (1949). Popular Handbook of Indian Birds (4 ed.). London: Gurney and Jackson. p. 297.
3. ^Mason, C.W. (1911). Maxwell-Lefroy, H. (ed.). The Food of Birds in India. Pusa: Agricultural Research Institute. pp. 164–165.
4. ^Dresser, H.E. (1886). A monograph of the Meropidae, or the family of bee-eaters. London. pp. 55–61.
5. ^ ^abcAli, Salim; Ripley, S. Dillon (1983). Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan. Volume 4 (2 ed.). Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 106–108.
6. ^Yuan, Hsiao-Wei; Wang, Ming-Kuang; Chang, Wen-Lian; Wang, Lee-Ping; Chen, Yue-Min; Chiou, Chyi-Rong (2006). 'Soil composition affects the nesting behavior of blue-tailed bee-eaters (Merops philippinus) on Kinmen Island'. Ecological Research. 21 (4): 510–512. doi:10.1007/s11284-006-0183-9. ISSN0912-3814.
7. ^Wang, Yi-Ping; Siefferman, Lynn; Wang, Yuan-Jyun; Ding, Tzung-Su; Chiou, Chyi-Rong; Shieh, Bao-Sen; Hsu, Fu-Shung; Yuan, Hsiao-Wei (2009). 'Nest site restoration increases the breeding density of blue-tailed bee-eaters'. Biological Conservation. 142 (8): 1748–1753. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2009.03.013.
8. ^ ^abHewavithana, K.; Pieris, A.L.; Peries, T.N.; Wijesinghe, M.R. (2017). 'Discovery of a large nesting colony of the blue-tailed bee-eater (Merops philippinus) in Oluvil, Amparad'. Wildlanka. 5 (1): 11–16.
9. ^Burt, D. Brent (2002). 'Social and Breeding Biology of Bee-Eaters in Thailand'. The Wilson Bulletin. 114 (2): 275. doi:10.1676/0043-5643(2002)114[0275:SABBOB]2.0.CO;2. ISSN0043-5643.
10. ^Siefferman, Lynn; Wang, Yuan-Jyun; Wang, Yi-Ping; Yuan, Hsiao-Wei (2007). 'Sexual Dichromatism, Dimorphism, and Condition-Dependent Coloration in Blue-Tailed Bee-Eaters'. The Condor. 109 (3): 577–584. doi:10.1093/condor/109.3.577.
11. ^Marks, Ben D.; Weckstein, Jason D.; Moyle, Robert G. (2007). 'Molecular phylogenetics of the bee-eaters (Aves: Meropidae) based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequence data'. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 45 (1): 23–32. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.07.004. PMID17716922.
12. ^ ^abPeters, James Lee (1945). Check-list of birds of the World. Volume 5. Harvard University Press. p. 235.
13. ^Valera, Francisco; Gómez-Moracho, Tamara; Yuan, Hsiao-Wei; Muñoz, Irene; de la Rúa, Pilar; Martín-Hernández, Raquel; Chen, Ying-Lan; Higes, Mariano (2017). 'Any role for the dissemination of Nosema spores by the blue-tailed bee-eater Merops philippinus?'. Journal of Apicultural Research. 56 (3): 262–269. doi:10.1080/00218839.2017.1306375.
14. ^Williams, N. Sandra (1981). 'The Brueelia (Mallophaga: Philopteridae) of the Meropidae (Aves: Coraciiformes)'. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. 54 (3): 510–518. JSTOR25084186.
15. ^Neelakantan, K. K. (1948). 'On the breeding of the Blue-tailed Bee-eater (Merops superciliosus javanicus) in Rajahmundri, East Godavari district'. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 47: 741–742.
16. ^Norris, C. E. (1963). 'The Bluetailed Bee-eater Merops philippinus Linnaeus, nesting in Ceylon'. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 60: 259.
17. ^DeCandido, Robert; Nualsri, Chukiat; Allen, Deborah (2010). 'Mass northbound migration of Blue-tailed Merops philippinus and Blue-throated M. viridis Bee-eaters in southern Thailand, spring 2007–2008'(PDF). Forktail. 26: 42–48.
18. ^DeCandido, Robert; Allen, Deborah; Yosef, Reuven (2004). 'Merops Migration at Tanjung Tuan, Malaysia: An Important Spring Bee-eater Migration Watchsite in South-east Asia'. J. Yamashina Inst. Ornithol. 36: 15–21. doi:10.3312/jyio.36.15.
19. ^Nisbet, I.C.T. (2013). 'Seasonal occurrence, migrations and habitat relationships of blue-tailed and blue-throated bee-eaters Merops philippinus and M. viridis in Peninsular Malaysia'(PDF). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 29: 219–223.
20. ^Dharmakumarsinhji, K. S. (1958). 'Bluetailed Bee-eater Merops philippinus Linnaeus in western Saurashtra'. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 55: 351–352.
21. ^Gosavi, P,; Mannar, H.; Sumesh, P. B.; Vinay, K. L.; Saleem, M. (2019). 'Status of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus in south-western India'(PDF). Indian Birds. 15 (4): 117–119.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

The Blue-tailed Skink, also known as the ‘Shinning-skink' or the ‘Christmas Island Blue-tailed', is a species of skink that is indigenous to the Christmas Island of Australia. Historical data have revealed that, these humble, non-poisonous reptiles were once feral and widespread throughout the island. Though, from around the late 1980s, these creatures started to decline in numbers across the Christmas Island.

Bluetail 2 0 M

Table of Contents

Blue-tailed Skink Scientific Classification

Table Of Content

Table of Contents

Scientific Classification

Blue-tailed Skink

By 2008, studies revealed that, they occur in only two locations including the North West Point and the Egeria Point. While later, they started disappearing from North West Point by mid-2008 and by mid-2010, from the Egeria Point.

Although, extensive studies and surveying are still on across the Christmas Island, but presently, there was no evidence of any wild populations. However, it is quite possible that, undiscovered populations still exist since Christmas Island has vast stretches of furrowed landscapes that are almost inaccessible.

Physical Description

Size: These skinks are approximately 4 to 8 cm (1.6 to 3.1 in) in length.

Weight: Average weight of the skinks is about 10-18 ounces.

Skin/Coat Color: The baby skinks exhibit a dark black complexion with bright yellow stripes on the back of their necks that run down to the juncture of the tail. Adults begin losing their yellow stripes with age. The black back takes to the brownish side. During mating season, the neck starts growing a reddish color. Females continue to keep their blue tail throughout their life.

Feet: Their feet are fairly long and are almost rectangular in shape with five claws in each foot adapted to grip branches properly.

Head: The shape of their head is very much like the snake that seems to be holding a Jacobson's organ for the purpose of sending the air while foraging.

Tongue: The tongue is divided like serpents and flicks around in order to ‘taste' the air of the surroundings.

Eyes and Eyelids: Eyes are round and black, which also resemble the eyes of snakes, for which they are also known as ‘Snake-eyed Skink'. They have hidden eyelids, which refers to their fused eyelids for which they are grouped under ‘Cryptoblepharus'.

Nostrils: Nostrils are situated just above their mouth and below the Jacobson's organ.

Tail: Its tail is the most conspicuous feature in the entire body. As the name suggests, these skinks, including both genders, have bright blue tails.

Lifespan

The longevity of the blue-tailed skink is 5-7 years in the wild.

Distribution

These skinks, as mentioned, are mainly distributed across Australia's Christmas Islands in the Indian Ocean. However, since its decline in population, a captive breeding population has also been maintained on the Island since 2009. Later, from this stock, yet another captive breeding population was established in 2011 that has been managed at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

Blue Tailed Skink Range

Habitat: Where do Blue-tailed Skinks live

These creatures dwell primarily in forest areas, but also went feral, roaming around the suburbs, often seen on the walls and people's fences. They love tall thickets with deciduous trees and around the coastal areas, primary rainforests, in the settlement areas, including such areas that have been left unrehabilitated by mining.

Classification of Species

No subtypes of this species have been reported. Hype 4 pro 4 0 3.

Behavior

The blue-tailed skink is a diurnal lizard that would be the most active between 10 AM and 2 PM. Beyond this time range, they are seldom seen foraging or basking around. These skinks mainly bask on brick walls and stones, on the boundaries and fences, fallen tree trunks, clearings in primary rainforest, atop ornamental trees, small shrubs and even on coconut palms.

These reptiles dig burrows and build their own tunnels. This is to ensure that they always have the access to a hole for shelter and protection. These skinks are good climbers, and are mostly commonly seen foraging in areas with low vegetation on the ground, on exposed rocks, in the tree canopy, low on the trunks of trees, etc., and may be exposed to predation attempts while foraging.

The species is omnivorous and is a generalist predator of mostly all kinds of small invertebrates. They occur both in groups, or sometimes singly, however, the size of their individual home range is not known.

Blue Tail Skink

Diet: What Do Blue-tailed Skinks Eat

They mainly thrive upon all types of available small bugs and different types of worms, like earthworms, and other invertebrates.

Reproduction and Life Cycle

The age of first breeding of the blue-tailed skink is approximately one year. https://downloaddu.mystrikingly.com/blog/mininote-pro-5-4-pro. Once they attain their age of sexual mating, breeding can occur throughout the year. They are oviparous and generally lay two eggs at a time. Their hatching period is approximately 75 days. The generation length of these skinks is about 3-4 years.

Baby Blue Tailed Skink

Adaptations

1. When these lizards feel threatened, or are attacked, they will pop their tail off. This is an instance of what is called ‘autotomy'.
2. After detachment, their tails are able to wiggle and distract the predator while the skink would run away.
3. The skink can regenerate its tail.
4. The bright blue pigmentation on the tail is to direct the attention of the predator towards it, instead of the vulnerable body of the skink.

Predators

The cat, black rat, Asian wolf snake, giant centipede, nankeen kestrel, yellow crazy ant are the primary enemies of the blue-tailed skink present in the Christmas Islands.

Blue Tailed Skink Full Grown

Bluetail 601

Differences: Blue-tailed Skink vs. Five-lined Skink

The main physical difference between the blue-tailed skink (Cryptoblepharus egeriae) with the five-lined skink (Plestiodon fasciatus) is that, unlike the five-lined skinks, the former is relatively smaller, with a black body having yellow stripes that run down to a bright blue tail.

Conservation Status

The Australia wide : Conservation Status : EPBC has described their conservation status in the following manner:

Final draft 9 0 8 download free. 'vernacular: Blue-tailed Snake-eyed Skink
status: Endangered
sourceStatus: Critically Endangered'

Blue Tailed Skinks

Interesting Facts

This species has sometimes been considered to be conspecific with the blue-cheeked bee-eater which is a close sister taxon, the two forming a clade with the Madagascan olive bee-eater.^[11] In the past the species has been treated variously as M. persicus javanicus, M. superciliosus javanicus, and M. superciliosus philippinus.^[12]

Ecological interactions[edit]

Based on the presence of spores of Nosema ceranae in the droppings of blue-tailed bee-eaters, it has been suggested that they may be capable of distributing the parasite to bees across a wide geographic range.^[13] A species of feather louse, Brueelia superciliosa has been described from hosts of this species in Thailand.^[14]

Distribution and movements[edit]

The species has a patchy breeding distribution across India, Myanmar, and parts of Southeast Asia.^[12] In India they are known to breed in several of the river valleys including those of the Godavari, Kaveri, Tunga Badra and Krishna rivers.^[15] They also nest in the eastern parts of Sri Lanka.^[16][8]

Blue-tailed bee-eaters are seasonal in many parts of their range and are known to migrate diurnally en masse at some places like Tanjung Tuan (W. Rayman origins 1 0 1 – magical adventure game. Malaysia) and Promsri Hill^[17] (southern Thailand).^[18] They are winter visitors in parts of Malaysia and peninsular India.^[19] The non-breeding ranges of the blue-cheeked bee-eater and blue-tailed overlap in some parts of Gujarat^[20] and western peninsular India.^[21]

Status[edit]

The Blue-tailed bee-eater is listed as a species of least concern by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.^[1]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abBirdLife International (2012). 'Merops philippinus'. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)old-form url
2. ^ ^abWhistler, Hugh (1949). Popular Handbook of Indian Birds (4 ed.). London: Gurney and Jackson. p. 297.
3. ^Mason, C.W. (1911). Maxwell-Lefroy, H. (ed.). The Food of Birds in India. Pusa: Agricultural Research Institute. pp. 164–165.
4. ^Dresser, H.E. (1886). A monograph of the Meropidae, or the family of bee-eaters. London. pp. 55–61.
5. ^ ^abcAli, Salim; Ripley, S. Dillon (1983). Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan. Volume 4 (2 ed.). Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 106–108.
6. ^Yuan, Hsiao-Wei; Wang, Ming-Kuang; Chang, Wen-Lian; Wang, Lee-Ping; Chen, Yue-Min; Chiou, Chyi-Rong (2006). 'Soil composition affects the nesting behavior of blue-tailed bee-eaters (Merops philippinus) on Kinmen Island'. Ecological Research. 21 (4): 510–512. doi:10.1007/s11284-006-0183-9. ISSN0912-3814.
7. ^Wang, Yi-Ping; Siefferman, Lynn; Wang, Yuan-Jyun; Ding, Tzung-Su; Chiou, Chyi-Rong; Shieh, Bao-Sen; Hsu, Fu-Shung; Yuan, Hsiao-Wei (2009). 'Nest site restoration increases the breeding density of blue-tailed bee-eaters'. Biological Conservation. 142 (8): 1748–1753. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2009.03.013.
8. ^ ^abHewavithana, K.; Pieris, A.L.; Peries, T.N.; Wijesinghe, M.R. (2017). 'Discovery of a large nesting colony of the blue-tailed bee-eater (Merops philippinus) in Oluvil, Amparad'. Wildlanka. 5 (1): 11–16.
9. ^Burt, D. Brent (2002). 'Social and Breeding Biology of Bee-Eaters in Thailand'. The Wilson Bulletin. 114 (2): 275. doi:10.1676/0043-5643(2002)114[0275:SABBOB]2.0.CO;2. ISSN0043-5643.
10. ^Siefferman, Lynn; Wang, Yuan-Jyun; Wang, Yi-Ping; Yuan, Hsiao-Wei (2007). 'Sexual Dichromatism, Dimorphism, and Condition-Dependent Coloration in Blue-Tailed Bee-Eaters'. The Condor. 109 (3): 577–584. doi:10.1093/condor/109.3.577.
11. ^Marks, Ben D.; Weckstein, Jason D.; Moyle, Robert G. (2007). 'Molecular phylogenetics of the bee-eaters (Aves: Meropidae) based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequence data'. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 45 (1): 23–32. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.07.004. PMID17716922.
12. ^ ^abPeters, James Lee (1945). Check-list of birds of the World. Volume 5. Harvard University Press. p. 235.
13. ^Valera, Francisco; Gómez-Moracho, Tamara; Yuan, Hsiao-Wei; Muñoz, Irene; de la Rúa, Pilar; Martín-Hernández, Raquel; Chen, Ying-Lan; Higes, Mariano (2017). 'Any role for the dissemination of Nosema spores by the blue-tailed bee-eater Merops philippinus?'. Journal of Apicultural Research. 56 (3): 262–269. doi:10.1080/00218839.2017.1306375.
14. ^Williams, N. Sandra (1981). 'The Brueelia (Mallophaga: Philopteridae) of the Meropidae (Aves: Coraciiformes)'. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. 54 (3): 510–518. JSTOR25084186.
15. ^Neelakantan, K. K. (1948). 'On the breeding of the Blue-tailed Bee-eater (Merops superciliosus javanicus) in Rajahmundri, East Godavari district'. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 47: 741–742.
16. ^Norris, C. E. (1963). 'The Bluetailed Bee-eater Merops philippinus Linnaeus, nesting in Ceylon'. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 60: 259.
17. ^DeCandido, Robert; Nualsri, Chukiat; Allen, Deborah (2010). 'Mass northbound migration of Blue-tailed Merops philippinus and Blue-throated M. viridis Bee-eaters in southern Thailand, spring 2007–2008'(PDF). Forktail. 26: 42–48.
18. ^DeCandido, Robert; Allen, Deborah; Yosef, Reuven (2004). 'Merops Migration at Tanjung Tuan, Malaysia: An Important Spring Bee-eater Migration Watchsite in South-east Asia'. J. Yamashina Inst. Ornithol. 36: 15–21. doi:10.3312/jyio.36.15.
19. ^Nisbet, I.C.T. (2013). 'Seasonal occurrence, migrations and habitat relationships of blue-tailed and blue-throated bee-eaters Merops philippinus and M. viridis in Peninsular Malaysia'(PDF). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 29: 219–223.
20. ^Dharmakumarsinhji, K. S. (1958). 'Bluetailed Bee-eater Merops philippinus Linnaeus in western Saurashtra'. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 55: 351–352.
21. ^Gosavi, P,; Mannar, H.; Sumesh, P. B.; Vinay, K. L.; Saleem, M. (2019). 'Status of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus in south-western India'(PDF). Indian Birds. 15 (4): 117–119.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

The Blue-tailed Skink, also known as the ‘Shinning-skink' or the ‘Christmas Island Blue-tailed', is a species of skink that is indigenous to the Christmas Island of Australia. Historical data have revealed that, these humble, non-poisonous reptiles were once feral and widespread throughout the island. Though, from around the late 1980s, these creatures started to decline in numbers across the Christmas Island.

Bluetail 2 0 M

Table of Contents

Blue-tailed Skink Scientific Classification

Table Of Content

Table of Contents

Scientific Classification

Blue-tailed Skink

By 2008, studies revealed that, they occur in only two locations including the North West Point and the Egeria Point. While later, they started disappearing from North West Point by mid-2008 and by mid-2010, from the Egeria Point.

Although, extensive studies and surveying are still on across the Christmas Island, but presently, there was no evidence of any wild populations. However, it is quite possible that, undiscovered populations still exist since Christmas Island has vast stretches of furrowed landscapes that are almost inaccessible.

Physical Description

Size: These skinks are approximately 4 to 8 cm (1.6 to 3.1 in) in length.

Weight: Average weight of the skinks is about 10-18 ounces.

Skin/Coat Color: The baby skinks exhibit a dark black complexion with bright yellow stripes on the back of their necks that run down to the juncture of the tail. Adults begin losing their yellow stripes with age. The black back takes to the brownish side. During mating season, the neck starts growing a reddish color. Females continue to keep their blue tail throughout their life.

Feet: Their feet are fairly long and are almost rectangular in shape with five claws in each foot adapted to grip branches properly.

Head: The shape of their head is very much like the snake that seems to be holding a Jacobson's organ for the purpose of sending the air while foraging.

Tongue: The tongue is divided like serpents and flicks around in order to ‘taste' the air of the surroundings.

Eyes and Eyelids: Eyes are round and black, which also resemble the eyes of snakes, for which they are also known as ‘Snake-eyed Skink'. They have hidden eyelids, which refers to their fused eyelids for which they are grouped under ‘Cryptoblepharus'.

Nostrils: Nostrils are situated just above their mouth and below the Jacobson's organ.

Tail: Its tail is the most conspicuous feature in the entire body. As the name suggests, these skinks, including both genders, have bright blue tails.

Lifespan

The longevity of the blue-tailed skink is 5-7 years in the wild.

Distribution

These skinks, as mentioned, are mainly distributed across Australia's Christmas Islands in the Indian Ocean. However, since its decline in population, a captive breeding population has also been maintained on the Island since 2009. Later, from this stock, yet another captive breeding population was established in 2011 that has been managed at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

Blue Tailed Skink Range

Habitat: Where do Blue-tailed Skinks live

These creatures dwell primarily in forest areas, but also went feral, roaming around the suburbs, often seen on the walls and people's fences. They love tall thickets with deciduous trees and around the coastal areas, primary rainforests, in the settlement areas, including such areas that have been left unrehabilitated by mining.

Classification of Species

No subtypes of this species have been reported. Hype 4 pro 4 0 3.

Behavior

The blue-tailed skink is a diurnal lizard that would be the most active between 10 AM and 2 PM. Beyond this time range, they are seldom seen foraging or basking around. These skinks mainly bask on brick walls and stones, on the boundaries and fences, fallen tree trunks, clearings in primary rainforest, atop ornamental trees, small shrubs and even on coconut palms.

These reptiles dig burrows and build their own tunnels. This is to ensure that they always have the access to a hole for shelter and protection. These skinks are good climbers, and are mostly commonly seen foraging in areas with low vegetation on the ground, on exposed rocks, in the tree canopy, low on the trunks of trees, etc., and may be exposed to predation attempts while foraging.

The species is omnivorous and is a generalist predator of mostly all kinds of small invertebrates. They occur both in groups, or sometimes singly, however, the size of their individual home range is not known.

Blue Tail Skink

Diet: What Do Blue-tailed Skinks Eat

They mainly thrive upon all types of available small bugs and different types of worms, like earthworms, and other invertebrates.

Reproduction and Life Cycle

The age of first breeding of the blue-tailed skink is approximately one year. https://downloaddu.mystrikingly.com/blog/mininote-pro-5-4-pro. Once they attain their age of sexual mating, breeding can occur throughout the year. They are oviparous and generally lay two eggs at a time. Their hatching period is approximately 75 days. The generation length of these skinks is about 3-4 years.

Baby Blue Tailed Skink

Adaptations

1. When these lizards feel threatened, or are attacked, they will pop their tail off. This is an instance of what is called ‘autotomy'.
2. After detachment, their tails are able to wiggle and distract the predator while the skink would run away.
3. The skink can regenerate its tail.
4. The bright blue pigmentation on the tail is to direct the attention of the predator towards it, instead of the vulnerable body of the skink.

Predators

The cat, black rat, Asian wolf snake, giant centipede, nankeen kestrel, yellow crazy ant are the primary enemies of the blue-tailed skink present in the Christmas Islands.

Blue Tailed Skink Full Grown

Bluetail 601

Differences: Blue-tailed Skink vs. Five-lined Skink

The main physical difference between the blue-tailed skink (Cryptoblepharus egeriae) with the five-lined skink (Plestiodon fasciatus) is that, unlike the five-lined skinks, the former is relatively smaller, with a black body having yellow stripes that run down to a bright blue tail.

Conservation Status

The Australia wide : Conservation Status : EPBC has described their conservation status in the following manner:

Final draft 9 0 8 download free. 'vernacular: Blue-tailed Snake-eyed Skink
status: Endangered
sourceStatus: Critically Endangered'

Blue Tailed Skinks

Interesting Facts

• Like people often mistake, these skinks are not closely related to the Plestiodon skinks of North America, the juveniles of which are known for their blue tails.
• A regenerated tail of these skinks are often the color as the body (and not blue), and is also slightly shorter than the original tail.
• The specific name of the blue-tailed skink ‘egeriae' is in honor of ‘HMS Egeria', a mid-19th century ship of the British Royal Navy.
• As of November 2014, the number of individuals in the captive breeding populations of these skinks was over 160.

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    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-tailed_skink