The one and only time I saw one of these things, my brain stopped working.
You see at the time I was confident in my belief that there were no snakes on Malta, so imagine my surprise upon coming across something that looked remarkably like a snake, popping it’s head through a hole in the bottom of a fence. At first I did the involuntary backwards skip that most humans do when they see something that looks like a snake. But as the creature did nothing, I edged forward to get a better look. At this point I noticed the stumpy little legs, which reassured me that no, of course there are no snakes in Malta. (Yes there are).
It’s quite an odd-looking thing though, the skink, like seeing evolution get stuck without finishing the job. Because it is basically a rather stumpy looking snake with legs. It even moves in that slithery swimming way that snakes move, as if it hasn’t fully got used to the benefits of having legs yet. Harmless though.
Possibly the most disappointing aspect of my skink experience was the fact that I was carrying a bag containing my camera at the time. My camera was In. My. Bag. And I never even thought to take it out. Brain not working right, as previously mentioned. Hopefully I will get another chance, but as cats are the main predators of skinks and there are rather a lot of cats strutting around Malta, I guess the skinks are pretty nervous critters. But I carry the camera just in case.
(photo from shadowservices.com)
You see at the time I was confident in my belief that there were no snakes on Malta, so imagine my surprise upon coming across something that looked remarkably like a snake, popping it’s head through a hole in the bottom of a fence. At first I did the involuntary backwards skip that most humans do when they see something that looks like a snake. But as the creature did nothing, I edged forward to get a better look. At this point I noticed the stumpy little legs, which reassured me that no, of course there are no snakes in Malta. (Yes there are). It’s quite an odd-looking thing though, the skink, like seeing evolution get stuck without finishing the job. Because it is basically a rather stumpy looking snake with legs. It even moves in that slithery swimming way that snakes move, as if it hasn’t fully got used to the benefits of having legs yet. Harmless though.
Possibly the most disappointing aspect of my skink experience was the fact that I was carrying a bag containing my camera at the time. My camera was In. My. Bag. And I never even thought to take it out. Brain not working right, as previously mentioned. Hopefully I will get another chance, but as cats are the main predators of skinks and there are rather a lot of cats strutting around Malta, I guess the skinks are pretty nervous critters. But I carry the camera just in case.
(photo from shadowservices.com)
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This is the freakiest little critter ever, and what an odd image to put on a stamp! I’ve never heard of them before but how cool/terrifying that you got to see one!
Thank you for your lovely comment and congratulations to you too 🙂 xx
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