Identifing Lizard

[M_surinamensis]

Couple points here...

First off, just to conjecture as to the cause and nature of the wounds and resulting partially healed scar tissue... Most North American skinks will happily beat the living crap out of one another and the result is generally a fairly widely scattered series of small cuts, gashes and abrasions, like those pictured. While there are a few species that look similar and Broad Headed are easy to sex as adults, the others are far less so... the guess that it was female seemed to be based off the assumtion that it was a broad headed and may or may not be accurate. Even if it were female, male skinks (like many other animals) are pretty much serial rapists when it comes to their interactions with females and can frequently chew 'em up pretty bad. Males and other males... they simply fight until one is dead or runs away. Even females can be a bit territorial with one another, although not quite as blatantly most the time.

That is to say... It could have been a cat, I doubt it was a lawnmower but it was probably another skink.

As to the depth perception and it's impact on the sucess of this species in catching food... Take a look at the placement of the eyes on the head. The area where the visual fields overlap is minescule and wouldn't start for several inches forward of the nose/mouth, meaning anything close enough to be eaten can only be seen by one eye at a time, or even neither eye by the time they're ontop of the prey item. Having only one eye might mean a missed insect now and then if it's on the blind side but it's not the life or death issue it was represented as being earlier in this thred.

Moot point now, but it might come up again. Maybe. I suppose. Sometime. Eh.