Introduction

In this blog we will discuss about the Frilled Dragon, History of Frilled Lizard, Frilled Lizard Body Structure, What Frilled Dragon Eat, Predator of Frilled Dragon and Frilled Neck Lizard Reproduction.

We have heard a lot about dragons in stories, movies, and the history of the evolution of the earth. Everyone among us has a picture of a dragon and many rare animals in our mind, which will describe in different mythologies. But, apart from all these fictional and mythological facts, dragons belong to reptiles. According to Jurassic World and many science fictions, dragons are giant reptiles who can walk and do mysterious things like flying, vomiting fire, and many more. In this blog, we will explore one of the mysterious creatures a Frilled Dragon.

Though dragons were almost extinct animals 100 AC years ago, do you know that we have many undiscovered and unexplored creatures like a dragon?

 A FRILLED DRAGON is one of the best examples of very less exposed creatures of the planet.

Frilled Dragon or frilled lizard or frilled necked lizard are the different names used to recognize this creature. The frilled lizard is a species of lizard from the family Agamidae. It is a rare sighting animal that is the only member of Chlamydosaurus. This animal is not dangerous and generally runs away from the threat. 

History of Frilled Lizard

Its binomial name is Chlamydosaurus kingii, as it belongs to the species C. kingii. This rare animal is mostly found in Northern Australia and southern New Guinea. The name itself describes the animal’s appearance; the cloaked comes from ancient Greek Chlamydo, while Saurus means lizard. The name frilled lizard is the large frill around its neck, usually folded around against its body.  

Frilled necked lizard, a large member of the dragon family, loves to stay in tropical and warm temperate forests and savanna woodland of Australia.

Frilled Lizard Body Structure 

The animal belongs to the class reptilia and phylum Chordata. It can show bipedalism as it can stand up and run on hind legs. The frill around the head and neck are supported with the cartilage and spines at its tips. For better imagination, we can consider opening and closing an umbrella. The average body length is around 85 cm, which is 2.7 feet. The frill acts as a dhal weapon or Indian shield for protection against predators. Rare animal lives up to 20 years with around 1 pound of body weight. 

The unique frill is activated or opened up only when the predator attacks that are lizard is frightened and shows camouflage for survival. They do not show any standard body-color; they appear with the darker brown or grey spots mixed color to give the appearance of tree bark. Their body color varies according to the environment. Frilled dragons are ectothermic animals; hence they can change their body temperature according to their environmental temperature. The thermoregulation of the lizard mainly depends on sunlight. Basking is the most common way ectothermic animals maintain their body temperature.

 What Frilled Dragon Eat

The arboreal behavior is most commonly seen in the frilled lizards, unlike other lizards, which tend to live on trees for most of their life span. They rarely explore the ground in case of food search. These are carnivorous animals that feed on cicadas, beetles, termites, etc. Though their favorite food is insects, they can feed on other small lizards, ants, and occasionally on plants too; hence can be omnivorous. These animals are not venomous and have no poison to spit. While hunting, these lizards follow the wait and capture method. For food, this lizard waits outside the mouse hole in camouflage color, and once the mouse comes out, it captures it. 

Predators of Frilled Dragon

These frilled lizards are very tricky to capture for the predator due to their color resemblance with the bark of trees or hiding under leaves. Once the frilled dragon gets caught by a predator, it quickly opens its frill and mouth and makes a hissing sound so the predator will be frightened by seeing the large face of the lizard.

The funniest part is once the predator got confused by seeing sudden enlarging face frilled lizard run away from it on its hind limbs without even looking back once. And it runs till it does not reach the safest part of the tree where predators cannot reach. Predators of the frilled lizards can be snakes, feral cats, eagles, etc. 

Frilled Dragon Reproduction

The frilled lizard shows sexual dimorphism from the length of the lizard. Generally, males are larger than females, and there is low to no dimorphism in body color. The breeding season of frilled lizards runs lasts from September to October. The male lizard uses their frill to compete with other male lizards and show courtship displays. The female lizard lay around 8-20 tiny eggs in one clutch between November to February. These eggs are laid underground in the nest around 1-8 inches below the ground.

These eggs are soft-shelled, and their incubation period is approximately 2 to 3 months. Therefore, parental care is not necessary for the baby lizard as these baby lizards can use their neck frill as soon as they hatched out of the egg. 

These lizards need vitamin D and calcium for their better health, and hence they lay their eggs in holes present in sunny areas. The process of thermoregulation and basking in sunlight fulfill their need for vitamin D and calcium and keep them healthy.

Threats 

According to the IUCN red list, the conservation status of these animals comes under the least concern category. The decreasing population of this rare creature is due to the increase in invasive species like feral cats. Deforestation is also a major cause of decreasing frilled lizard population.

Some wildlife parks are there to protect and survive these lizards. Wasur national Park of New Guinea is one example. Still, there is no specific plan of conservation for this rare animal. The exact population of these species is difficult to count because of these animals’ quick hiding and camouflaging nature. 

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