{"id":65575,"date":"2025-09-29T13:13:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T07:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=65575"},"modified":"2025-09-29T13:13:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T07:43:09","slug":"beddomes-cat-skink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/beddomes-cat-skink\/","title":{"rendered":"Beddome\u2019s Cat Skink"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Beddome\u2019s Cat Skink Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A biodiversity survey has, for the first time, recorded the presence of Beddome\u2019s cat skink (Ristella beddomii) at the Aralam and Kottiyoor Wildlife sanctuaries.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Beddome\u2019s Cat Skink<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is also called Beddome&#8217;s<\/span><b> ristella.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beddome\u2019s cat skink is named after British <\/span><b>naturalist Richard Henry Beddome<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the species is considered rare and endemic to the Western Ghats region.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Appearance:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It is a small <\/span><b>reddish brown lizard<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with retractile claws and bicarinate scales.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Distribution:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It is found in the <\/span><b>forests of the Western Ghats at<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> an altitude of 400-1,300 metres.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Reproduction:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It is an <\/span><b>oviparous species<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and egg laying coincides with the southwestern monsoons.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Key Facts about Skink<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is the common name for the <\/span><b>lizards that comprise the family Scincidae.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a type of reptile that has been <\/span><b>around since the time of the dinosaurs.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is typically smooth and shiny with small or rudimentary legs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are mostly <\/span><b>secretive ground dwellers or burrowers.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Behavior:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Skinks are <\/span><b>highly alert, agile and<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> fast moving and actively forage for a variety of insects and small invertebrates.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Habitat:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> They can be found in a variety of <\/span><b>habitats, from deserts to rainforests<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and are well-known for their <\/span><b>ability to camouflage<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with their surroundings.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Distribution:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> These are represented throughout most of the world but are especially diverse in <\/span><b>Southeast Asia and its associated islands<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the deserts of Australia, and the temperate regions of North America.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source: <\/b><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/kerala\/rare-lizard-species-spotted-at-aralam-and-kottiyoor-sanctuaries\/article70105458.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beddome\u2019s cat skink is named after British naturalist Richard Henry Beddome, the species is considered rare and endemic to the Western Ghats region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":65651,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2961],"class_list":{"0":"post-65575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-beddomes-cat-skink","9":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}