Treasures come in many shapes and sizes, and this one, the shed skin of a backyard lizard, is quite a prize indeed! We found it tucked away in a stack of oak logs that we piled up behind the house and decided to move. Amazingly, the skin is intact, down to the tiny and well articulated feet. How did the lizard extricate itself from the old skin? Half way down its body, about where the body begins to taper out to the tail, there is a small but obviously sufficient hole on the top--visible in this photo--through which it must have slithered out.
Most likely, this reptile is one of the common coastal range fence lizards that we often see scooting around. But it's about three times the size of the most populous residents of our yard, a testament no doubt to its ability to survive the many predators abounding. Long live the lizard king!
