There are about 2000 lizard species in the world including chameleon, iguana and skinks. Skinks are one of the two largest families of lizards. They are found in all the tropical countries but they are most abundant in Africa, East Indies and Australia. They belong to the Cincidae family. There are about 700 species of skinks. Skinks are shy and retiring, so people are mostly ignorant of them.
Skinks have very thin, small legs. They have a smooth skin and a small pointed head. They can crawl over the uneven surface. Unlike snakes, thin jaw bones are fixed. Most of them are ground dwellers.
A very strange characteristic of skinks is that they can see with their eyes closed. While burrowing or eating insects they close their eyes. They have a permanent, transparent eye lid cover over their eyes with which they close their eyes. As this lid is transparent, skinks can see with their eyes closed.
Another characteristic feature of skinks is that they can squeeze their size during the squirming movement through the soil. In some skinks the feet look ridiculously small when compared to their body size and in others they get disappeared altogether.
Some skinks lay eggs, others bear live young. These skinks include the tiny three-toed skinks of southern Europe and north Western Africa. They grow upto 40 cm long of which half is tail. Australian skink stores fat in its tail and looks the same from both ends. It feeds on fruits, insects as well as small animals.
Now the question arises why skinks close their eyes? When skinks move in the dust, the dust can enter its eyes. So to protect against dust and sand it closes its eyes.