Frilled-neck Lizard

Chlamydosaurus kingii

Reptile

Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about frilled lizards. Who could forget this iconic scene from one of the most famous dinosaur movies? Though not related to the dilophosaurus shown in Jurassic Park - those dinosaurs probably didn’t even have a frill - a similar looking animal actually exists today, and that is the frilled lizard. frilled lizards, or ‘frillies’ as they may be called in their homeland of Australia, spend most of their time in trees. Aside from northern Australia, frilled lizards live in southern New Guinea and are found living in semi-arid, grassy woodlands and dry, savannah forests. These lizards are some of the largest from the family of dragons. Yes, there’s a lizard family commonly known as the dragons, and surprisingly komodo dragons have nothing to do with them. Frilled lizards can reach more than three feet (91 centimeters) in length including their tails. A frilled lizard’s frill normally lays flat against its neck, but when the lizard becomes alarmed it can open its frill to reach nearly a foot (30.5 centimeters) across. This is an impressive display, and it’s entirely a bluff.

Predators to frilled lizards include other reptiles such as snakes and larger lizards, birds of prey, dingoes and feral cats. When a predator corners a frilled neck lizard, the lizard will open its mouth revealing a bright yellow or pink inside. Its frill will also become erect, and it’s this combination of bright color and seeming to rapidly increase in size that’s supposed to frighten away the adversary; but not all animals can be swayed so easily. If a predator is undeterred by the frilled lizard’s display, it has one more trick to get away. Frilled lizards can boogie. In much the same way a basilisk lizard will run across water on two legs, a frilled lizard will scurry over the ground so it can make its way up the nearest tree and escape the jaws of death. Frankly, if I saw a lizard stand up on two legs and make for the nearest tree, I’d be dumbfounded, too, so it seems like a legit escape tactic, though they don’t only use it for escape.

Frilled lizards are diurnal animals and spend most of their time inspecting their surroundings from the relative safety of a tree. From this vantage point the lizard can find tasty meals in the form of moths, butterflies, ants, termites, cicadas, spiders, beetles, other lizards, and small mammals. When a meal is spotted, the lizard will drop down from the tree and make a bipedal run for its prey. Even baby frilled lizards can run bipedally and they have frills. Though their fills are underdeveloped, they can still use these frills from the time they hatch.

Frilled lizards begin breeding with the onset of the rainy season in October and may continue to do so through March. It might seem like male frilled lizards would show off their frills in order to impress the ladies, much like a male lion with his mane, but evidence suggests that frilled lizards don’t use their frills for sexual displays - if you think about it, the females have their own frills they can be impressed with, why would they need the male’s? Females can, however, sport scars on the backs of their necks from bites from males while mating. Frilled lizard females lay about a dozen eggs in underground nests which take around 70 days to incubate. The babies will emerge independent of their parents, but equipped to face the world. How long they can live in the wild is still unknown, but they’ve been known to reach more than twenty years of age in captivity.

For more facts on frilled lizards, check out the links in the description. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.