Frilled Lizard

Frilled lizards are also called frill dragons and frill lizards. It is known for raising ruffles at the neck or additional flaps around the neck to intimidate predators. These lizards live in northern Australia and New Guinea. Some people see the ruffles on the raised neck of this lizard and think that it is poisonous or that it will vomit poison at predators. In fact, this reptile is not poisonous and there is no poison that it can vomit. 

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This spectacular lizard gets its name from the large fur collar or fur hem on the neck. When a lizard is frightened or faced with a potential threat, it will open its mouth wide, thereby raising frills in a bright orange flash. When the frills are fully expanded, it can reach 12 inches (30.5 cm) wide, making the lizard appear larger and more threatening to any potential predator. 

The resulting surprises frequently allow the Frilled Lizard to escape quickly. But when necessary, the lizard can hiss, pounce on potential threats, and repeatedly tap the ground with its tail to increase the threat. The frilled lizard prefers to run away rather than fight but can use its large canine teeth to cause painful bites to any predator.

In this article, we will be discussing a spectacular creature of the reptile family the frilled lizard. We will learn the frilled neck lizard and discuss the facts and features of the frilled dragon detail.

Frilled Neck Lizard

The scientific name of the frilled neck lizard is the Chlamydosaurus kingii, and it is a type of reptile found in Australia and New Guinea that allows its forelimbs and tail to stand in the air and stand on its hind legs. The scales around the neck are used as a large part of the lizard's defensive posture. The ruffles are usually the length of a lizard and rest over the shoulders like a cape. When a lizard is upset or threatened, lizards can stand upright with their bodies, suddenly appearing ahead several times larger than normal and surprising the enemy. 

The frilled neck lizard or the curly-necked lizards have grey-brown scales and are usually around 3 feet long. Although he is tall, he weighs just over a kilogram. If you put two and a half pins side by side, you'll see the length of a thrashing three-legged lizard. The lizard has a neck, weighing just over 0.5 pounds, about the same as a can of soup. 

This lizard has a long tail and claws that hang from a tree trunk, allowing it to climb quickly. The lizard's grey-brown scales help camouflage it among trees. 

 The name of this lizard is derived from the folds of skin, also known as rough, that surround the throat. In most cases, these folds of skin are flat on the lizard's body, like a superhero's cape. However, when this reptile is threatened by a predator, it will raise its shaggy neck, open its mouth and hiss. This makes the lizard larger and more threatening. In short, animals do this with the aim of warding off predators. Its intestines are about 12 inches in diameter. 

Raising the collar often confuses predators long enough for the lizard to start running towards the tree on its hind legs. That makes sense. A confused predator is most likely to escape a lizard on the neck. By the way, the clumsy running of this reptile is an amazing sight.

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Scientific Description of the Frilled Neck Lizard:

• Common name: Frilled lizard, frilled neck lizard, frilled dragon

• Scientific name: The frilled lizard scientific name is Chlamydosaurus kingii

• Type: Reptiles

• Diet: Carnivore

• Average life span: Up to 20 years

• Size: 3 feet

• Weight: 1.1 pounds

Frilled dragon - General Description

As their name suggests, the frilled dragon or the frilled neck lizard is really interesting creature belonging to the Animalia kingdom of class reptiles. Undoubtedly, one of the quirkiest sights in nature is the gangly retreat of an Australian frilled lizard or frilled neck lizard. Let us have a look at the salient features of this reptile and important facts about the frilled dragon.

The salient features of the frilled dragon or the frilled lizard include the description of the frilled lizard, habitat, distribution, range of the frilled lizard, etc. 

Let us discuss one by one as listed below:

1. The Physical Characteristics of the Frilled Lizard

Chlamydosaurus kingii is one of Australia's most iconic and familiar dragon lizards. It is a large lizard with an average length of 85 cm (which is around 33 inches). C. kingii or the frilled lizard is quite strong, with long limbs and a rather long tail. The common colour of this lizard is grey-brown. The tail is dark striped with a dark grey tip. The lining of the tongue and mouth is pink or yellow. But its most striking feature is wide, aka Elizabethan shaggy, which suddenly rises around the neck when alerted. 

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The collar is a thin, elongated fold of skin that surrounds the throat and, when fully upright, is about 12 inches in diameter. The ruffles remain like a cape over your shoulders until you stand up straight. Neck lizards are sexually dimorphic, with adult males having a nose length (SVL) of 290 mm and a mass greater than 870 g. Females are much smaller, with an SVL of 235mm and a mass of 400g. Colour and size vary by region. On average, large adults are about 3 feet long from head to tail and weigh up to 1.1 pounds. 

The frilled dragons are thin skin folds that often hang like a cape and can reach 30 centimetres (which measures around 12 inches) in diameter when standing. These lizards move them up and down to communicate with each other. When threatened, the animal rises, opens its mouth wide, and sits up with a rustle. 

2. Habitat and Distribution:

The frilled lizard or the frilled neck lizards live near semi-arid grasslands and dry sedges. Lizards are trees and spend most of their time on trunks and standing limbs. Thanks to its excellent camouflage, it is usually only seen when it lands on the ground after rain or when looking for food. 

Frill-necked lizards are found in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. Frill-necked lizards are members of the dragon family that inhabit the warm temperate and tropical forests and savannah forests of northern Australia (hence the name frill lizard). 

3. Frilled Lizard: What Do They Eat?

The frilled neck lizards are the most abundant carnivores as a food source in tropical habitats. Twisted lizards are trees and spend 90% of their time in trees. They usually go ashore just for food. They are carnivorous and generally eat small invertebrates, but they are known to eat carnivores and small mammals. 

4. The Behaviour of the Frilled Dragon:

When this unique creature feels threatened, it stands up on its hind legs, opens its yellow mouth, and a colourful pleated flap appears and howls around its head. If the attacker is not confused by these tricks, the lizard simply opens its tail, mouth, and frills, dividing its darts and legs right and left. I continued to do this intentionally, without stopping or looking back, until I reached a safe position on the tree. 

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This species is famous for running bipedally. When disturbed, this bipedal lizard usually rushes to the nearest tree, but can instead hide under low vegetation or go into freeze mode. This completely immobile carnivorous reaction was adopted (frilled lizard adaptations) by C. kingii as part of his illegal program. When a lizard is cornered, it usually faces an intruder, and the wrinkled lizard performs the best-known defence mechanism. 

Lizards turn up the frills by opening their mouths in a bright pink or yellow. This sudden and apparent increase in mouth size and vibrant colour is sometimes accompanied by rustling, standing on hind legs, and jumping and chasing predators. If the bluff doesn't work, the lizard often runs to the nearest tree.

5. Threats

Their main predators are raptors, large lizards, snakes, dingoes, and wild cats. They are not currently threatened or protected, but habitat loss and predation by feral cats in some areas, particularly feral cats, are affecting their populations. 

Reproduction in Frilled Lizards 

This species is an egg-laying animal. The mating season of C. kingii is the rainy season, which begins in October or November and lasts until February or March. The male C. kingii is territorial and appears to use frills to attract potential mates. However, no definitive information has been gathered to indicate that the choice of spouse is related to the size of the steering wheel.   

Females lay eggs during the rainy season and incubate for about 70 days. The clutch size ranges from 13, with an average of 8 eggs per clutch. The nest is in flat, sandy ground, surrounded by grass and loose bedding, with no vegetation directly above the nest, and the nest can be exposed to the sun all day. There is considerable variation in the size of Frill Lizard broods across geographic regions. 

Females lay 8 to 23 small eggs in underground nests and newly hatched turtles are completely independent and can hunt and use flowers. Their lifespan in the wild is unknown, but captive specimens live up to 20 years. 

Conservation status

Curly-necked lizards do not survive well in captivity. This is not a good exhibit at the zoo, as it rarely displays the famous frills in captivity. Lizards are most often seen in their natural environment. 

The conservation of these dragon lizards is of less importance is the protection of the curly-necked lizard. But do face some threats. Its habitat is threatened by deforestation. In addition, the increasing number of stray cats in their habitat has contributed to their population decline. 

There is no specific protection plan for this lizard. However, there are animal parks where some of these lizards live. Wasur National Park in New Guinea is one example.

Fun Facts on Frilled Lizard Facts

• The frilled lizard is sometimes known as the bicycle lizard due to the way its hind legs move when it’s running.

• The frilled neck lizard is kept in some households as exotic pets that need special care.

• The female frilled lizard can lay eggs up to 8 inches underground.

• The frilled neck lizards may look furious but are not poisonous.

• The frilled lizard has documented a long reptile life span and these are found to live up to almost 20 years.

• The frilled neck lizard is often said to belong to the dragon family as a result of its appearance.

• The Australian natives often refer to the frilled lizard as the dragon lizard.

• The frilled neck lizard is one of the reptile characters of Australia and it was painted on the two-cent coin.

• The frill of these frilled neck lizards cannot be upraised unless the jaws are opened wide. These two actions i.e., the jaws being opened wide and the erected frills are synchronous.

• Frilled lizards in restraint rarely reveal their frill.

Conclusion:

• The frilled lizards belong to the Animalia kingdom of class reptiles. The scientific name of the frilled neck lizards is Chlamydosaurus kingii and these are inhabited in the tropical regions of Australia.

• The frilled lizards are commonly known for their frill and often called the frilled dragon, frilled neck lizard, dragon lizard, etc….

• The frilled lizards are upto 60 to 90 centimetres or 24-35 inches long. The largest of these lizards measured upto 84cm in length. An adult frilled lizard weighs around 1.1 pounds.

• The frilled lizard is a carnivore, and it is fed the food source which is most abundant in their tropical habitat.

• These lizards have an oviparous reproductive system, a female frilled lizard can lay upto 8-23 eggs deep beneath the ground.

• These lizards are known for their bicycle pedal locomotive hence also known as the bicycle lizard. When these lizards sense the threat they will freeze themselves.

• The frill of these lizards is erected only if their jaws are wide opened, the frill of these lizards is just the skin having folding, as a result of these frills they resemble so much with the dragons and hence known as the dragon lizard or the frilled dragon.

• The conservation status of these lizards is of least concern. But it is noticed that there is a reduction in the number of these lizards in certain habitats.