Some time ago I snapped the above image of a 'Lisa Dorada', a golden skink. Only La Gomera is home to the endemic spotted golden skink (Chalcides viridianus coeruleopunctatus) which is a subspecies of the West Canary skink or Chalcides viridanus, a species of skink in the family Scincidae. Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae and the infraorder Scincomorpha.
Their natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, temperate grassland, rocky areas, rocky shores, sandy shores, arable land, pastureland, rural gardens, and urban areas where they're found in altitudes up to 2,000 m. They reach a mximum of 18 cm in length and even though they need lots of sun like to 'charge their batteries' the Gomera skinks are extremely shy and vanish like a flash when there's the slightest disturbance.
