Noodle 18 - 15 July 2007

Walking near a farm on Sunday morning with my son, he accidentally stepped on a skink*. While sunning themselves on roads and paths, they are lethargic and slow to react. It seemed alright with no discernible injuries but it then started writhing wildly.

For 5 minutes it went from this wild dance to blinking stillness several times and then it killed itself.




* After an email exchange with specialists at the Natural History Museum, London, I have discovered that the creature was actually a slow worm(Anguis fragilis). Their hypothesis is that it could have felt that it was being attacked and in absence of an enemy to bite, it turned on itself.