Rare lizard may get federal protection

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Following an agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity to reconsider protections for the Cedar Key mole skink, on Aug. 7 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed protecting the skink as endangered under Endangered Species Act. The Service has also proposed to protect nearly 3,000 acres of life-saving critical habitat for the skink on its Florida islands.

The Service found that Cedar Key mole skink is endangered due to threats associated with climate change, specifically sea level rise, increased high-tide flooding and more intense storms.

“I’m relieved that Cedar Key mole skinks are finally getting the protection they need,” said Ragan Whitlock, a Florida-based attorney at the Center. “Irresponsible coastal development and sea-level rise have pushed these little lizards toward the brink of extinction, but the Endangered Species Act can bring them back.”

Adorned with a light pink tail, the Cedar Key mole skink lives exclusively on the shorelines of the Cedar Key islands, along roughly 10 miles of Florida’s Gulf Coast. The lizards burrow in dry sand and hunt insects under leaves, debris and washed-up vegetation on beaches.

Due to their limited coastal range, Cedar Key mole skinks are especially vulnerable to extinction from destructive coastal development and human encroachment on their natural habitats.

As sea level rises, they’re also susceptible to inundation and being squeezed into shrinking areas between rising seas and human sprawl developments. Increasingly powerful storms fueled by climate change, like hurricanes Idalia in 2023 and Michael in 2018, can also kill skinks and inundate or destroy their coastal habitat.

“Living on islands makes these little lizards especially vulnerable to rising seas and increasingly stronger hurricanes worsened by fossil fuel-driven climate change,” said Whitlock. “To ensure their future, we need a comprehensive plan for their survival and recovery, and that’s exactly what Endangered Species Act protection will do.”

In addition to threats from climate change and irresponsible development, the skink is also at risk of vehicle strikes, exposure to pollution and pesticides, overcollection, and predation by feral animals and fire ants.

The Center petitioned to protect the Cedar Key mole skink under the Endangered Species Act in 2012. In 2015 the Service found that protecting the skink may be warranted, but in 2018 the agency ultimately denied the petition. Following the Center’s 2022 lawsuit, which pointed to deficiencies in the agency’s analysis, the Service agreed to reconsider its denial and make a new decision by July 31, 2024.