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Bec Crew is a Sydney-based science communicator with a love for weird and wonderful animals. From strange behaviours and special adaptations to newly discovered species and the researchers who find them, her topics celebrate how alien yet relatable so many of the creatures that live amongst us can be.
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Print this pageThey're no Drogon, Viserion, or Rhaegal, but these real dragons can hold their own in the dense tropical forests of Southeast Asia.
BORN WITH freakishly elongated rib cages that fan out more than twice the length of their own skulls, these lizards are made for gliding through the trees ' from predators, towards rivals, and in search of mates.
The five-lined flying dragon (Draco quinquefasciatus) belongs to the genus Draco, which boasts more than 40 different species of winged lizard.
Unlike flying frogs, which use skin flaps between their toes to glide through the air, the five-lined flying dragon has 'wings' ' stretched skin that can retract and unfurl like a wingsuit. Technically known as patagia, the patterns on these skin flaps are unique to each species, which allows scientists to pretty easily tell them apart.
Here's the five-lined flying dragon's wings, and you can clearly see how it got its name:
And here's Draco volans, which also has the five lines, but check out those colours:
Here's the Sulawesi lined gliding lizard (left) and the southern flying lizard (right), demonstrating how the Draco colouring can serve to both camouflage and to show off:
As you can see, the names of these dragons use 'flying' and 'gliding' pretty indiscriminately, but there's a specific technical difference between the two. Gliding is defined as 'controlled falling', when the angle of descent is less than 45 degrees, whereas flying actually has upward, powered momentum.
The members of the Draco genus are the only reptiles on Earth considered to be 'true' gliders, and they can soar for a record 60 metres over an elevation of just 10 metres above the ground.
Not content to flash some bright colours on their wings, Draco lizards have impressive dewlaps, too. And they're not just for attracting mates ' these are some mightily aggressive dewlaps.
Here they are in action, complete with some Attenborough commentary:
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LC
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Least Concern
Extinct
For the tiny Draco lizard, moving among the trees in the jungles of Southeast Asia is an essential task'for escaping danger, attracting mates, and finding meals.
Scampering across the forest floor, where predators lurk, can be perilous. So over thousands of years, the Draco lizard has taken the ground out of the equation by adapting the capacity for flight.
These so-called flying dragons have a set of elongated ribs, which they can extend and retract. Between these ribs are folds of skin that rest flat against the body when not in use, but act as wings when unfurled, allowing the Draco to catch the wind and glide. The lizards use their long, slender tails to steer themselves, and each sortie can carry them up to 30 feet.
Dracos reach about 8 inches long, including tail. They have flattened bodies, which also aid in flight, and are a mottled brown in color. The undersides of their wings are blue in males and yellow in females. They also have a flap of skin on the bottom of their necks called a dewlap. This is bright yellow in males and bluish gray in females.
Males are highly territorial and will use their ability to glide to chase rivals from the two or three trees they claim as their own.
Although Dracos usually avoid going to the ground, females still must descend to deposit eggs. The lizard uses her pointed snout to create a small hole in the ground, where she lays about five eggs and then covers the hole with dirt. She remains on the ground for about 24 hours, fiercely guarding the nest, and then returns to the trees and leaves the eggs to their fate.
Flying dragons survive on a diet of almost exclusively ants and termites. The lizards are found in densely wooded areas in the Philippines and Borneo in the east, across Southeast Asia and into Southern India. They are abundant throughout their range and have no special conservation status.
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