Nearly extinct, slew of new skinks found

According to Blair Hedges, professor of biology at Penn State University and the leader of the research team, half of the newly added skink species already may be extinct or close to extinction, and all of the others on the Caribbean islands are threatened with extinction.The researchers found that the loss of many skink species can be attributed primarily to predation by the mongoose an invasive predatory mammal that was introduced by farmers to control rats in sugarcane fields during the late 19th century