What is the difference between a skink and a lizard

The highly polished dorsal, or back, scales, often appear iridescent. Some species have a transparent scale across the lower eyelid, which allows the animal to see even when the lid is closed. Many skink species have stripes, but these reptiles may also have spots or bands.

Some types have a uniform color. Salamanders have a soft and delicate skin, which needs to remain moist. Salamanders secrete mucus which maintains their salt balance while in water and keeps their skin moist when on land. These amphibians also have poison glands in their skin and are usually brightly colored as a warning to potential predators. Skinks have cylindrical bodies and cone-shaped heads. The males in some skink species develop visibly broader heads than the females. The majority of species are small and do not exceed 8 inches in overall length.

The Solomon Island giant skink however, can grow to 24 inches in length. The tapering tail of most skink species breaks easily, but is easily regenerated. They have almost not neck, large reddish-orange colored heads with darker brown-gray striped, stocky bodies.

Like other skinks, the young have a bright blue tails and prominent stripes. Although adult male broadhead skinks are unmistakable, females and immature lizards are very similar in appearance to five-lined and southeastern five-lined skinks. Thus, small skinks are best identified by close examination of the scales: broadhead skinks have an enlarged row of scales under the tail and five labial scales situated along the upper lip between the nose and eye. Although they may be found both on the ground and in trees, male broadhead skinks, are more often found in trees than any of the other southeastern skinks.

The adults are often seen carried away by predatory hawks who snatch them with their talons from the tops of trees. These two types of lizards differ in body shape, skin texture and eye physiology, while being similar in longevity, the ability to grow back a tail and highly acute vision and hearing. The body of a skink is much more streamlined than that of a gecko, and some legless skinks appear snakelike. A skink's head is much narrower than a gecko's.

Geckos have a distinct narrowed neck with a flattened body, while skinks have necks that appear to be the same thickness as their heads, and their bodies have a longer, tubular shape. Skinks can blink, while geckos cannot.

Skinks have full eyelids that enable them to blink to keep their eyes moist and clean. Geckos have fused eyelids and use their long tongues to lick their eyes, which adds moisture and removes debris.

Since most geckos are nocturnal, they tend to have narrow, vertical pupils to block light. Skinks have round pupils for natural daytime activity, such as basking on sun-warmed rocks. A little known fact about them is that they can change the colour of their skin from dark to light in order to regulate their own body-heat. The average size of a goanna is anywhere from 4 to 4. Although they come in a variety of different colours, the most common hues found in endemic species with Australia are black, brown, and a mottled colour-combination of both.

Goannas can run and climb quite efficiently, and will normally run from danger.