Largest living skink

The largest species of skink alive today is the Solomon Islands skink Corucia zebrata, also known as the prehensile-tailed or monkey-tailed skink. It grows to a total length of up to 81 cm, of which over half consists of its tail. This sizeable species occurs on several islands in the Solomons archipelago (including two – Bougainville and Buka – that are politically part of Papua New Guinea), and is entirely herbivorous, feeding upon fruit and vegetables. It is the only member of the genus, and is arboreal.

This skink is one of the very few species of social lizard. It lives in small family groups, each such group being known as a circulus, and individuals are actively hostile to others that are not members of their own circulus.

Long-term bonding of pairs with each another and with other members of their respective circulus occurs, and orphaned youngsters have been recorded being adopted into a circulus.