The Grand Skink is the giant of the Otago schist, defined by a size and presence that sets it apart from all other New Zealand skinks. At up to thirty centimetres in length, it is one of our largest lizards, a robust, powerful animal with a broad head, strong jaws, and a thick tail that stores fat for the lean months of winter. Its colouration is variable - greenish-brown to greyish-brown, with darker markings along the back and sides, and a pale cream or yellowish belly. This is a lizard that knows how to use the landscape. The Grand Skink is a rock specialist, living in the deep crevices of the schist tors that dot the Otago high country. It basks on sun-warmed rocks in the morning, soaking up the heat that will fuel its day of hunting. When a predator approaches - a stoat, a cat, a harrier - it vanishes into the crevices, disappearing into the dark spaces between the stones. Biologically, the Grand Skink is a viviparous species, giving birth to live young rather than laying eggs. Females produce two to five offspring every other year, a slow reproductive rate that makes the species vulnerable to population decline. The young are miniature versions of the adults, independent from birth, but they grow slowly, taking several years to reach maturity. The Grand Skink is a predator of the rock fields, feeding on insects, wētā, spiders, and other small invertebrates. It is an active forager, moving across the rock surfaces and through the tussock grasses, searching for prey. It also eats fruit and berries when available, supplementing its diet with the sweet, energy-rich food. The decline of the Grand Skink has been swift and devastating. Introduced predators - cats, stoats, ferrets, and hedgehogs - have decimated populations across Central Otago. Habitat loss from farming, fire, and the spread of invasive weeds has compounded the problem. Today, fewer than two thousand individuals remain, confined to a handful of sites where intensive predator control keeps the cats and stoats at bay. To see a Grand Skink is to see a survivor. It is a lizard that has clung to existence in the face of overwhelming odds, a living fossil of the Otago high country. Its future depends on us - on the continuation of predator control, on the restoration of its tussock grassland habitat, on the captive breeding programmes that are slowly rebuilding the population.