Sunday, December 29, 2013

Bronze Mabuya

A few days ago, I saw what is called a bronze mabuya (I am visiting my grandparents right now). It is a skink that is often said to have a venomous bite, but actually, no skinks are poisonous. I first heard about this species, Eutropis macularia, from my mother the last time we cane to Chennai. The Tamil name for it is "aranay" and they are feared here in India. Everyone says, "If bitten by an aranay, you have half a minute till death." Here is an image I found of one:
taken from
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/
Bronze_Grass_Skink_(Mabuya_macularia)_W2_IMG_2753.jpg