An Arabian Sand Skink Encounter

 

An Arabian Sand Skink darting away on the pavement

A chance encounter out of the sand dunes

By running on the pavement the skink loss its desert camouflage

Hiding underneath a car (don't worry the skink was not crushed!)

Its so awesome to have an encounter with an Arabian Sand Skink (Scincus mitranus) out of its natural sand dune habitat!

It was during a random petrol station stopover along the Kalba-Maleha Road en route to Fujairah that I had the awesome sighting of this bright yellow-orange and white skink darting across the pavement. The other people who saw it were immediately repulsed and thought it was a snake but I told them not to panic as it is a nonvenomous skink. I hurriedly grabbed my camera inside the car and chased after the lizard to capture the moment. Even though it was out of its sand dune habitat, it was able to run very fast from end to end of the pavement. It hid underneath a parked car and then proceed to dart its way to a storage area, then back into its sandy refuge and away from my sight. 

The Arabian Sand Skink or Eastern Sand Skink is is also called the Arabian Sand Fish because of its ability to move and slide into the loose sand which appears as if it was "swimming in the sand." 

It has very smooth, shiny, fish-like scales with bright yellow-orange color on top and white on the bottom. It also possess distinguishable dark brown markings on its side. The head is amazingly wedge-shaped which allows it to quickly move, slide, dive and hide into its sand dune habitat. It has short legs and tail. They are known to reach up to 20cm in length. 

These lizards are called SKINKS (SCINCIDAE) because they do not have pronounced necks and they have short legs.  

Adapted to live and forage in the loose desert sand, they feed on insects and other invertebrates.

Arabian Sand Skinks do not lay eggs, the females give birth to fully developed lizards (VIVIPAROUS). This is a special adaptation to help them move away from egg dessication in their extremely hot environment. 

As an explorer-adventurer-nature blogger, I have to undertake great efforts and cover distances to have awesome encounters with God's creations in their natural habitat. This episode with the Arabian Sand Skink was a chance encounter, we crossed paths directly away from its natural habitat and our meeting was an awesome treat! Thanks be to the Lord God!

Awesome creatures! Awesome CREATOR!