• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • DONATE
  • SHOP
The Land Between

The Land Between

Explore - Learn - Inspire

  • About Us
    • The Team
    • How We Operate
    • Strategic Paths
    • Our Impact
    • Our Partners & Supporters
    • Contact Info & Our Public Centre
  • About the Region
    • Geography, Wildlife, Species at Risk, Culture, History
  • Our Projects
    • Leading Projects
    • Special Projects
  • Learning Centre
    • Honouring Our Shared History
    • Living in the The Land Between
    • Feeding the Land Between
    • Knowledge Circles
    • Community Talks
    • Regional Research Results
  • You Can Help
    • Report a Species
    • Volunteer
    • Shop Our Store
    • Donate
  • News & Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • TLB Blogs
    • The Skink Newsletter

Five-Lined Skink

(Plestiodon fasciatus)

Status: Special Concern in Canada since 2007, Special Concern in Ontario since 2009.

Table of Contents:

  • Species Identification
  • Diet
  • Habitat and Range
  • Biology and Behaviour
  • Threats/Reasons for Being Endangered
  • Conservation and Recovery Strategies
  • How You Can Help
five-lined skink
Adult five-lined skink
Adult five-lined skink

Species Identification:

The five-lined skink is the only lizard endemic (found no where else in Canada) to Ontario. This small lizard (usually around 5-8.6 cm snout to vent) has five cream coloured lines running lengthwise down its body. Their characteristic blue tail is actually only present in juveniles or mature young females and is used to attract predators away from their heads in cases of attack. When threatened, the skink will drop its tail which is can later regenerate. As the five-lined skink matures, its colours tend to fade into a duller brown/light brown (including those of its tail).

Diet:

The five-lined skink is an active hunter which eats mostly invertebrates primarily targeting arachnids and crickets. Five-lined skinks hunt their prey using their eyesight as well as a sense of "smell". These lizards, like many reptiles "smell" by flicking their tongue in and out of their mouth which allows them to picks up chemical signals similar to the way a mammal nose works.

Back to top of page

Juvenile five-lined skink
skink-map-1024x544
Five Lined Skink. Tam Mapes
Five Lined Skink. Tam Mapes

Habitat and Range:

The five-lined skink is widespread in eastern North America, being found from Florida and Texas in the south to Minnesota and Ontario in the north. Within Ontario Skinks have two population ranges: Carolinian forests in Southwestern Ontario (around Lakes Erie, St. Clair, and Huron) and the Canadian Shield (around the Great Lakes-St.Lawrence) where they are found in the Land Between. The five-lined skink typically resides in habitats with rocky outcrops, sand dunes, prairies (less than 10% tree cover), savannas (less than 30% tree cover) or open canopy forests that contain early successional vegetation. These little beauties are usually seen on open rock barrens or outcrops that have cover rocks present; however they spend most of their time hidden relaxing under wood or rocks. Having access to woody debris is very important for species presence and is negatively correlated with human disturbance. Such debris and rock cover is very important in allowing skinks to maintain healthy body temperatures (in all seasons). If such characteristics of microhabitats are removed it is very hard for skinks to find new suitable habitat because they only travel a maximum of 100 meters are year, with average distance traveled being  much lower than that.

 

Back to top of page

Biology and Behaviour:

Five-lined skinks in the Georgian Bay population emerge from hibernation in early May and are active until late September-October (depending on seasonal temperatures). Breeding generally occurs in spring with females often breeding with multiple males which together father separate eggs in one clutch. Females then lay 9-10 eggs under a thin layer of soil/lichen, logs or rocks. They will stay with these eggs and protect the nest until eggs hatch in 4-6 weeks. Juvenile skinks reach sexual maturity during their second spring and typically live about 5 years in the wild, but have been reported to reach ages up to 10 years.

Back to top of page

five lined skink 2
Skink fun fact

Threats/ Reasons for being at Risk:

1. Habitat loss and development: this is the the greatest threat to skink populations as they require very specific ecosystem characteristics to survive. When this habitat is becomes developed by humans the skink loses part of its home

2. Increased predation: proximity to humans is also an issue which leads to subsidized predation by wild animals (like raccoons and skunks who have higher populations around human settlements) and predation by domesticated animals like dogs and cats.

3. Illegal collecting: this is caused by the illegal pet trade market. Fines for collecting Species At Risk are up to $1,000,000 for corporations and $250,000 for individuals.

4. Road Mortality: roads now cut through the habitat of many animals including the five-lined skink. When the skink is crossing or basking on the road they are often struck my distracted and irresponsible drivers.

Conservation and recovery strategies:

The province is doing more research into the populations and habitats of the skink to determine their entire distribution, and to better understand threats. They then hope to use this information to preserve and protect the areas which they are living.

Back to top of page

How can you help?

Five-linked skinks are the only lizard found in Ontario! Below we have listed some ways which you can help them:

  1. Consider providing habitat by leaving woody debris and allowing it to decay on site rather than collecting and removing it. In addition, do not allow your cat or dog outside without a leash or tether.
  2. If you see a skink on the road, when it is safe to do so, help it to safely cross
  3. Help protect the habitat of the five-lined skink by keeping an eye on any development that is happening in your region and notifying municipal and provincial authorities if you have a concern

Additional Resources:

Interested in teaching your class or children about skinks? Check out this awesome activity by the Frontenac Arch Bioreserve!

Sources:

  • Howes, B. J., & Lougheed, S. C. (2004). The importance of cover rock in northern populations of the five-lined skink (Eumeces fasciatus). Herpetologica, 60(3), 287-294.
  • Sowers, R. (2018). The effects of biogeographic factors on the persistence and distribution of the common five-lined skink in Southern Ontario (Doctoral dissertation).
  • https://www.ontario.ca/page/common-five-lined-skink-recovery-strategy

Back to top of page

five lined skink

Interested in learning more about wildife? Check out our blogs!

Screenshot 2023-09-14 at 12.24.04 PM

An Unlikely Friendship: The Relationship Between Wolves and Ravens

September 14, 2023

By: Michael Allen Bryden The interaction between individuals of different species has been recorded throughout natural history. Mutualism, more specifically, occurs when two such species’ interaction results in positive and …

Read More
Screenshot 2023-07-27 at 10.28.20 AM

Busy Beavers, Our Eager Ecosystem Engineers

July 27, 2023

By Angela Vander Eyken Beavers are easily one of the most fascinating and unique creatures in our landscape: they have impressive paddle-like tails, lush shiny fur, self-sharpening teeth, and even …

Read More
tim-wilson-IYMSWnpPaFU-unsplash

The Humble Muskrat: Is He Disappearing?

March 1, 2023

Muskrats are often an overlooked species in the Land Between region and are frequently seen as pests. However, muskrats are actually beneficial and have great cultural, ecological, and economic importance.  …

Read More
skunk

The Perks of a Pepe-le-pew

February 28, 2023

Written by Jaclyn Adams Picture this: it’s dark outside and you hear rustling in the bushes a few feet away. Curious, you wander closer and slowly lean towards the rustling, …

Read More
Image obtained from https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/11540852, (CC BY-NC)

Introduction to Ontario’s Bats

February 28, 2023

By: Michael Allen Bryden As the sun sets and dusk rolls in, you see a small black figure fly overhead in the sky, but that’s not a bird. You notice …

Read More
Marten

Marten, Mink, and Fisher: The Look-a-like Mesopredators in our Backyards!

February 28, 2023

By : Daniela Castellanos What is a mesopredator? The food web is an intricate and interconnected network of relationships between consumers and producers. We often hear about animals that are …

Read More
Ruby-throated-humming-bird-male

What is happening to our humming bird populations?

July 4, 2022

Hummingbird Population Trends: What You Should Know Many North American bird populations are in decline, but does this include hummingbird species? This question was investigated in a recent research article …

Read More
Cat and bird

Keep Your Cats Indoors: Disappearing Birds

June 13, 2022

A study of 500 species of birds in Canada and the US was published in the prestigious journal Science in September 2019. It found that in the last 50 years, 3 …

Read More
????????????????????????????????????????????

The River’s Otters

June 13, 2022

We see otters on the Salmon River quite often, but their visits are not predictable. We simply must be looking at the river at the correct instant. Sometimes, it is …

Read More
Painted turtles

Do freshwater turtles gather together for the winter in Ontario? And the role of wetlands in stabilizing populations.

December 20, 2021

Hibernation is commonly observed in many species of animals, especially those inhabiting Northern regions where there are significant drops in temperature during the winter months. In Ontario, freshwater turtles are …

Read More

 

  • Home
  • The Region
  • The Charity
  • Shop
  • Donate

 

 

The Land Between is a National Charity #805849916RR0001.

Your support helps us celebrate, conserve, and enhance this important region. You can reach us at:

P.O. Box 1368, Haliburton, ON K0M 1S0
705-457-1222 | info@thelandbetween.ca

We respectfully acknowledge that The Land Between is located within Williams Treaty 20 Mississauga Anishinaabeg territory and Treaty 61 Robinson-Huron treaty territory, in the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg. We respectfully acknowledge that these First Nations are the stewards and caretakers of these lands and waters in perpetuity and that they continue to maintain this responsibility to ensure their health and integrity for generations to come.

Copyright © 2022 The Land Between