Frilled Dragon
(Chlamydosaurus kingii)

The frilled dragon is an arboreal lizard, native to Northern Australia and New Guinea.  Its preferred habitat is woodland and forest.  It has excellent camouflage and can be very difficult to see when in a tree.  Frilled dragons usually only come down to the ground when they need to forage for food.  The frilled dragon is named after the highly distinctive frill around its neck.  This impressive frill consists of large flaps of skin and is opened out as a defense mechanism, to "big itself up."  It is also suspected that extending the frill can help the lizard to control its body temperature.  Another distinctive feature of the frilled lizard is that when it has to run, it does so on its two hind legs.  A fully-grown frilled dragon could reach up to 30 inches in length.  The New Guinea dragons tend to be smaller and more gray in color compared to the Australian specimens.  Males average 16" overall, including tail.  Females average 12-14".  Males also tend to be more brightly colored.  On large individuals, the frill itself can be up to 14 inches across.  They are mainly carnivorous but may infrequently eat some fruit.  The female frilled dragon is capable of producing multiple clutches of soft leathery eggs during a breeding season.  Up to 10 leathery eggs are deposited at a time; the clutch of eggs usually requires about 80 days to hatch.  Their main predators are birds of prey, larger lizards, snakes, dingos and feral cats.  They are currently not threatened or protected, but habitat reduction and predation (particularly by feral cats) in some areas is affecting their populations.