The mountain is steep. The Egmont Skink exists nowhere else. Oligosoma egmontium is defined by a range limited to a single volcanic peak. At eighteen to twenty-two centimetres in length, it is a large, robust skink. Dark brown to greyish-brown colouration features pale flecks and stripes that provide camouflage among rocks and scrub. Belly is pale cream. Eyes are dark and watchful. A lizard that lives on Taranaki. This is a skink of the high slopes. Found only on Mount Taranaki, from montane forests to subalpine scrub. It basks on sun-warmed rocks and logs, soaking up heat that fuels its hunting. An agile forager, it moves quickly through vegetation searching for insects and spiders. Diurnal, active during the day particularly in morning and late afternoon. Biologically, the Egmont Skink is viviparous, giving birth to live young. Females produce two to four offspring each year. A slow reproductive rate that makes the species vulnerable to population decline. Young are born in late summer and are miniature versions of adults. Independent from birth, they must survive immediately. One of New Zealand's rarest lizards. Entire population confined to slopes of a single mountain. Threatened by habitat loss, predation, and climate change. Vegetation clearance and spread of invasive weeds reduce suitable habitat. Introduced rats, cats, and stoats prey on adults and young. Climate change reduces available habitat as temperatures warm. To see an Egmont Skink is to see a creature that exists nowhere else on Earth. The mountain is steep. The skink basks on a sun-warmed rock, dark brown and striped, watching. The rats are climbing higher. The skink does not know it is rare. It does not know it is confined. It just wants to bask in the sun. The mountain is its home. It has nowhere else to go.