New 'Very Cheeky' Lizard Species Potentially Found by Cat

A rare—and potentially new—species of skink has unwittingly been discovered by a cat just looking for a quick snack.

The cat dragged the lizard into its owners' home in Taranaki, New Zealand. After Amanda Harris, the cat's owner, placed the creature in a box to show to experts, it was discovered to be a rare native type of skink known as a kakerakau, and possibly even the first specimen of its species to have been found.

"This cat's got a particular meow when he's got something, so when he brought it in I saw it and it slithered across the carpet and that's what caught my eye, so I immediately picked it up and put in a box and contacted the Taranaki Regional Council to ID it," Harris told Radio New Zealand (RNZ).

Skinks are a type of lizard, characterized by their distinctively shorter legs than other species of lizards. Around 1,500 species of skink have been discovered so far.

"One of our biodiversity officers went out to have a look and said 'oh that's interesting' and sent me some photos and I got super excited because it looked like something I'd never seen before and so I sent off the photos to some people who might know some more and it came back as quite possibly a kakerakau skink," Taranaki Regional Council senior ecologist Halema Jamieson told RNZ.

Jamieson said this was significant, as kakerakaus had only been seen previously in tiny populations dotted across the northern portions of New Zealand's North Island.

"So, potentially it's one of those species or it could be something completely new," she said.

So few kakerakau skinks have been found that very little is known about them. They have been found to be heliothermic, enjoying basking in the sun, and generally eat small invertebrates and berries.

This specimen in particular was dark brown in color, with tan stripes leading down its sides. According to Jamieson, the lizard was feisty and wasn't scared of being examined by the scientists.

"It was poised up and very cheeky looking up at the camera and wasn't afraid of me at all. Very quick, good at climbing and very good at jumping. Very alert and very aware of who I was and what I was doing," she said.

A sample was taken of the skink's tail to confirm using DNA testing if the skink was indeed a kakerakau or even a new species.

"Even if it's not a brand new species and is the same as is found up at Bream Head that's still super exciting because that's over 500km [310 miles] between the two known populations and given that it hadn't been recognised before 2003 this is entirely exciting. It's essentially a new species that's turned up on our door step," Jamieson said.

Newsweek has asked Jamieson for comment.

It is extremely rare to find native lizards in the wild on mainland New Zealand due to the large degrees of predation from rodents and cats.

Luckily for this skink, however, the cat who brought it out from the wilderness wasn't much of a brute.

"The cat that brought it in is not much of a hunter, he'll gather but he won't really eat anything so to speak so he chose the right cat," Harris said.

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