Are there lizards that have wings. What is a flying dragon lizard. Dragon lizard eating

There are a huge number of animals in the world. From the simplest, found at every step, to extremely rare and exotic. One of the exotic animals can be called a dragon lizard, which will be discussed in this article.

Lizard dragon or she is a flying dragon - belongs to the subfamily Afro-Arabian Agamas(Agaminae) and is one of its most prominent representatives.

Definition

The name is due to the lateral skin folds, allowing you to fly at a distance of about 20 meters. This ability was acquired by lizards due to the fact that it is very difficult to survive being on the surface of the earth and running on the forest floor, in which predators can hide. Adapting to life on tall trees they solved this problem. This lizard is also called: dragon, flying dragon, flying lizard and flying dragons.

Description

The flying lizard is an inconspicuous animal that merges very well with the tree on which it lives. Invisibility, first of all, is due to the small size. The length of the lizard fluctuates from 20 to 40 cm. Most of the body length is a thin tail, which, among other things, performs the function of turning during the flight. The body is narrow in thickness and can reach 5 cm.

A distinctive feature of this lizard from others are small corrugated folds on both sides of the body. They are attached to false ribs and straighten out during the flight, forming wings. Males have a special fold located on the throat and helps to stabilize the position during the flight. In addition to helping in flight, the throat fold serves to attract females and scare off opponents.

Second element, preserving their invisibility on the trees can be called a brown-gray color with a metallic sheen, which allows them to merge not only with the trees, but also with the surrounding landscape. Lateral membranes on both sides are painted in bright colors that alternate with each other. The colors on the top side shimmer into color scheme- red, yellow, with various inclusions - spots, stripes and specks. On the underside you can see this picture: yellowish and bluish color here, connected with dots of different colors. Talking about color, one cannot fail to mention the bright colors of the tail, paws and abdomen of the animal.

Habitat

Where can you find these wonderful creatures? The main habitat of flying lizards can be called:

• India;
• islands of the Malay Archipelago;
• the island of Borneo;
• Malaysia;
• most South-East Asia.

Live in tropical forests, where there are many tall trees, on the crowns of which you can comfortably sit. Almost never come down to the ground only in case of laying eggs or accidental fall.

Behavioral features

The behavior of flying dragons is due to the presence of "wings" and the ability to glide over a distance of over 20 meters. It is the presence of folds that determines the residence of these reptiles at a height. Their favorite height upper layer of the forest. Even going down a little lower is already a bad option.

Most of the time flying dragons spend motionless. This is due to the fact that their color helps them to remain invisible while sitting on a tree without moving. They feed on ants, insect larvae and adult insects that they meet in their habitat.

At the moment when flying dragons see their prey, they jump in its direction and straighten the folds. Their goal is to catch an insect in flight and land on a nearby tree. They do this thanks to good maneuverability in the air, which, in turn, is achieved due to the presence of a tail and a fold under the throat.

One of characteristic features flying lizards can be called the presence of their territory. Each flying lizard occupies about three trees, which it uses for hunting. If an animal no larger than a flying dragon lands on one of the trees, then it will first start trying to drive the enemy away with its appearance, and then attack the invader.

The female flying dragon, in turn, also has a special demeanor. Despite the fact that they spend most of their time in trees, they have to descend and lay their eggs in the ground.

With the help of their pointed nose, they dig small holes in which they lay up to four eggs. After that, they fill the holes with mud and guard them for a day. After this period, they return to the top..

The most common types

There are about thirty types of flying dragons. The main ones are:

• Draco affinis
• Draco biaro
• Draco bimaculatus
• Draco blanfordii- flying Dragon Blanford
• Draco caerulhians
• Draco cornutus - horned flying dragon

Considering that dragon lizards spend most of their time camouflaging themselves, it should not be surprising that they are little studied. Scientists have no information about how long dragons live and how many babies hatch from each egg. Baby flying dragons are known to be able to fly right after hatching.

Dragon flying ordinary (lat. Draco Volans) is a lizard of the Agam family (lat Agamidae), living on the islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, as well as on the Malay Peninsula, in South Asia and southern India. This reptile has mastered the technique of gliding flight to perfection. The flying dragon usually glides at a low angle, flying about 20 m.

If necessary, he can make a flight without landing up to 100 m long. In flight, the flying dragon relies on an air cushion formed under its “wings”. The "wings" are broad skin folds on the sides of the body, called the flight membrane, and are supported by highly elongated false ribs. The articulation of these ribs with the spine allows the reptile to quickly open and close the flying membrane.

Behavior

Flying dragons live in tropical rainforests where all year round there is a stifling heat with high humidity and minimal temperature fluctuations. For life, they choose the upper tiers of the jungle and lead exclusively tree image life, descending to earth only in exceptional cases.

In search of food, the lizard flies from tree to tree, skillfully controlling the direction, speed and range of flight with the help of a tail and a flying membrane. Before the start, the flying dragon abruptly jumps up and straightens the flying membrane, and gently folds it upon landing.

The basis of the lizard's diet is wood ants and various insects, which it simply licks from the bark of a tree. Flying dragons communicate with each other using pretty complex language signs made by throat pouches. Having met a relative, the reptile sticks out a brightly colored throat sac and begins to give them signs.

If a thought so convincingly expressed does not reach the mind of a stranger, then the flying dragon boldly rushes into battle and drives him out of his territory. Most often, such communication can take quite a long time, and, having talked enough, the reptiles scatter about their business. Biologists have not yet been able to decipher the code on which representatives of this species communicate with each other.

reproduction

Flying dragons breed throughout the year and never hibernate. Having met the female, the male carefully shows her his charms and demonstrates the flying membrane. The demonstration is reinforced by a "highly artistic speech" with the help of a throat pouch. Only a good flyer and speaker gets the right to procreate.

After a few courtesies, the female leaves the male and descends to the ground to build a nest. The nest is a small hole dug in loose or sandy soil where the female lays 2 to 5 eggs. She covers the masonry with a layer of earth and leaves it to the mercy of fate.

After 1-2 months, little dragons are born from the eggs, completely ready for independent living. Immediately after birth, they rush up to the crowns of trees, where they can feel relatively safe. Flying dragons have plenty of enemies. Snakes and birds love to feast on them, because the ability to fly is not a luxury for them, but the only way to survive in wild jungle.

Description

The body length of adults usually does not exceed 22 cm, and the tail length is 20 cm. The body is greenish-bronze with numerous dark specks. Elongated articular ribs serve as a framework for the flight membrane. It is bright red with black spots, very large in proportion to the lizard's body.

The body is thin, slender, covered with small scales. The voluminous throat bag serves for communication. Big eyes allow very accurate distance estimation.

On the sides of the head are black and white pterygoid protrusions that form an additional bearing surface. The long thin tail acts as a rudder in the air. Long fingers are armed with sharp claws that make it easier to climb trees.

The life span of an ordinary flying dragon is on average about 5 years.

Dinosaurs in miniature, little dragons, whatever they are called. And these are all the lizards scurrying around us, a suborder of reptiles from the scaly order. These include all scaly, except for snakes and two-legged. Let's look at this beauty of the animal world of the planet and read the facts about them.

Today, there are almost 6,000 species of tailed reptiles in the world.

Representatives of different families differ in size, color, habits, habitat, some exotic species are listed in the Red Book. In nature, the most common reptile can be considered a real lizard, average length whose body is 10-40 cm.

Unlike snakes, lizards have movable, divided eyelids, as well as an elastic, elongated body with long tail, covered with keratinized scales, which change several times per season. Paws are clawed.

The tongue of a lizard may have different shape, color and dimensions, it is usually movable and easily pulled out of oral cavity. It is with the tongue that many lizards catch their prey.

Most lizards are able, in case of danger, to drop their tail (autotomy). By contracting the cartilaginous muscles at the base of the tail, the lizard discards the tail and grows it again, albeit in a slightly shortened form.

Sometimes a lizard grows back not one, but two or three tails:

The longest-lived is the fragile lizard. A male brittle lizard (Anguis fragilis) lived in the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen, Denmark, for over 54 years, from 1892 to 1946.

While most animals perceive the world in black and white, lizards see their surroundings in orange.

There are 2 ways of reproduction of lizards: laying eggs and live birth.

Females of small species of lizards lay no more than 4 eggs, large ones - up to 18 eggs. Egg weight can vary from 4 to 200 grams. The egg size of the smallest lizard in the world, the round-toed gecko, does not exceed 6 mm in diameter. The size of the egg of the world's largest lizard, komodo dragon reaches a length of 10 cm.

Monster Gila Lizard (HELODERMA SUSPECTUM)
Their bite is poisonous. While biting through grooves in tiny sharp teeth a painful neurotoxin enters the victim's body.

Roundhead (PHRYNOCEPHALUS)
It is called the toad-headed agama - it is small, lives in the empty and has one feature - round-headed communication occurs with the help of the tail, which they twist, and body vibrations are also interesting, with the help of which they quickly dig into the sand. Bizarre mouth folds scare off enemies.

The iguana-like infraorder (lat. Iguania) has 14 families, the most prominent representative which is a chameleon inhabiting Africa, Madagascar, the countries of the Middle East, Hawaii and some American states

Iguanas (green)

Iguana most fast lizard- the speed of movement on land - 34.9 km / h - was registered in the black iguana (Ctenosaura), which lives in Costa Rica.

marine iguanas
marine iguanas Galapagos Islands, which Darwin called "demons of darkness", spend all their time diving under water and scraping off the overgrown plants that iguanas feed on from stones.

Chameleon
Chameleon - in the highest degree unique reptile. His fingers are webbed, he has an extremely prehensile tail, and he shows attitude by changing color, binocular-like eyeballs move independently of each other, while a very long and sticky tongue shoots and catches the victim.

Unusual even among chameleons is the small Brookesia (Brokesia minima) or dwarf leaf chameleon. It is without a doubt one of the smallest reptiles known to man.

most large lizard was a monitor lizard exhibited in 1937 at the St. Louis Zoo, Missouri, USA. Its length was 3.10 m, and its weight was 166 kg.

The longest lizard is the thin-bodied monitor lizard of Salvador, or musk lizard (Varanus salvadorii), from papua new guinea. It, according to accurate measurements, reaches a length of 4.75 m, but approximately 70% of its total length falls on the tail.

geckos
Geckos are an extensive family of small and medium-sized, very peculiar lizards, characterized in most cases by biconcave (amphicoelous) vertebrae and the loss of temporal arches.


Many species of geckos have an amazing camouflage ability - their skin darkens or lightens depending on the ambient light. During experiments with wall geckos, their eyes were closed, but they continued to change color according to the usual algorithm.

Gecko lizards do not have eyelids, so they are forced to periodically wet a special transparent membrane in front of their eyes with their tongue.

Flying dragon and gecko foot
Flying dragons are a genus of the subfamily of the Afro-Arabian agamas of the Agamidae family; brings together about thirty Asian species arboreal insectivorous lizards. Other Russian names of this genus are also found in the literature - dragons, flying dragons

The frilled lizard is a lizard from the Agamidae family. Chlamydosaurus is the only species in the genus.

There are also types of lizards in which males are completely absent. Cnemidophorus neomexicanus lizards reproduce without laying eggs by parthenogenesis (a type of reproduction in which the participation of a male is not necessary).

Lesser Belttail (Cordylus cataphractus) is a species of lizard from the belttail family.

Surely in one of the articles on our website we have already surprised you with the fact that they exist. But this is far from the only reptile species that can travel distances through the air. So, we will tell you about the type of lizard Draco volans, which in Latin means "flying dragon".

Flying dragons belong to the Agamidae family, a subfamily of the Afro-Arabian dragons. The habitats of these outlandish reptiles are located in remote corners of Southeast Asia. Flying dragons live in trees rainforest the islands of Borneo, Sumatra, the Philippines, as well as in the South-Eastern part of India, Indonesia and Malaysia.

In nature, there are about 30 species capable of flying. But the species Draco volans is the most common, although not fully understood due to the hidden lifestyle of these reptiles.

Flying dragons are not at all the size of their thesque cartoon characters. The size of this reaches 20-40 centimeters in length. Moreover, the color of flying dragons is not very noticeable - from plain green to gray-brown. This allows them to merge with environment a habitat. But here distinguishing feature flying dragons - wide skin folds on the sides of a flattened body, which, when the “false ribs” between which they are stretched, form bright “wings” that allow these lizards to soar in the air, moving freely up and down and changing the trajectory of movement at a distance of up to 60 meters.

The structure of the "wings" of flying dragons is very peculiar. The lateral ribs of this lizard are significantly enlarged in size compared to the rest of the skeleton structure and are able to straighten the skin folds stretched between them. The resulting "wings" have a bright and variegated color - they are green, yellow, purple, with a tint, a transition, with spots, specks and stripes.

An interesting fact is that males in the throat area have hallmark- bright orange skin fold. At the same time, for the male sex, this distinctive feature is considered a virtue, which they willingly demonstrate by sticking it forward. From the point of view of biologists, this anatomical feature is a process of the hyoid bone of males, which helps them during the flight, stabilizing the body.

In general, gliding in the air for flying dragons is in itself a very useful skill that nature has endowed them with. It helps them escape from predators.

The diet of these reptiles includes insects, mainly ants, as well as insect larvae. Flying dragons live and hunt strictly in a certain area, which, as a rule, consists of several neighboring trees. These descend from the trees only in case of an unsuccessful flight, or for laying eggs.

These flying dragons practically do not consume water, they get enough of it from the food they consume. It is also worth noting that flying dragons have a well-developed hearing organ, which allows them to hear the approach of prey long before it appears near the reptile.

Unfortunately, the reproduction process and life span of flying dragons have not yet been fully studied. The only thing that biologists managed to find out is that the females lay their eggs in the crevices of the bark of trees. Baby flying dragons appear after a few weeks and can fly from the moment they hatch.

In humid tropical forests southern hemisphere Our planet has thousands of species of diverse fauna. The most exotic species of mammals, amphibians and birds live here. Their most striking representative is the dragon lizard. This is a small reptile with wings, which, upon closer inspection, is very reminiscent of the main character of Chinese folklore.

The flying dragon has a relatively small body.

Description of the appearance of a reptile

The winged reptile belongs to the agama lizard family. In the process of evolution, dragons acquired not only the ability to disguise, but also the ability to fly. This miniature animal leads a secluded life in the upper tier tropical trees and rarely comes down to earth.

The only exception is a failed flight and the need to lay eggs. However, not all representatives of this subfamily breed on the soil surface. Some types of dragons hide their eggs in tree bark. Their small size and inconspicuous color allow them to remain invisible to natural enemies.

Reptiles with the formidable name "flying dragon" do not differ in impressive size, the length of the largest individuals is forty centimeters, and the main part falls on the tail, which during the flight acts as a rudder. Not surprisingly, lizards easily avoid collision with plant branches.

The males have distinguishing feature in the form of a growth

They have a narrow flattened body. There are six elongated ribs on the spine, on which a leathery fold is attached. Straightening, it turns into a kind of cape, which strikes with bright patterns in the form of circles or smooth lines. The unique feature of the structure of the skeleton makes it possible for the reptile to glide above the ground, avoiding falling. In this way, they can cover a distance of more than twenty meters.

Males have a bright orange skin growth on their throat, which they use to attract females to mating season. With it, he scares away other animals that violate the boundaries of his territory, which occupies three or four trees. According to experts, the enlarged hyoid bone helps to stabilize the body during flights. Females are more modest in size, folds of a blue or blue hue.

Features of nutrition and reproduction

The winged lizard is known to feed on insects. Their menu includes:

• tree ants;
• beetles and butterflies;
• termites;
• insect larvae.

Leading sedentary image life, the flying dragon lizard can wait for hours for prey to appear. As soon as this happens, the reptile catches and swallows the victim, while not changing the position of the body.

The dragon is eating various butterflies

While hunting for flying insects, it plans between branches and catches prey. Grabbing it with his teeth, he returns to the tree and eats it. The necessary fluid is obtained from food, so the reptile does not need water. Among the natural enemies, the main ones are predatory birds and snakes, from which the lizard hides, merging with the environment.

The flying dragon is an oviparous lizard. During the mating period, the male inflates bright folds, thereby demonstrating to the female his beauty and readiness for procreation. The female lays two to four eggs. To protect them from predators, she buries them in small holes dug in the soil. It camouflages the nest with leaves and dirt. In this, she is helped by a pointed nose, specially adapted for such manipulations.

The reptile guards the masonry for one day, after which it returns to the top. After a few months, the cubs hatch, ready for independent life and having the ability to fly.

The hidden lifestyle does not allow scientists to thoroughly study the lizard. It is not yet known how many babies are born in one individual, as well as how long they live. But the number of these animals is not critical, and they do not fall under the status of protected by law.

habitats

A small harmless reptile is found near the equator and in southeast Asia.

Reptiles live in a number of countries

Habitat her habitat includes:

• Myanmar;
• India;
• Southern China;
• Kalimantan Island (Borneo);
• Malay Islands;
• Indonesia and the Philippines;
• Bangladesh;
• Eastern part of Vietnam and Thailand.

The flying lizard prefers places remote from cities and villages. That is why in wild nature it is difficult for a person to meet this exotic animal.

Variety of species

Scientists know about thirty species of winged lizards. Among them, the main ones are:

• ordinary;
• reticulate;
• spotted;
• bloody-bearded;
• five-strip;
• Sumatran;
• horned;
• blanford.

All flying agamic lizards are united by the presence of wings. They differ from each other in size, habitat and different colors. The color palette is determined by the color of the surrounding nature.

Sumatran lizard

Unlike other representatives of its kind, it prefers abandoned parks and degraded woodlands close to human habitation. It does not occur in wild jungles and remote areas.

The maximum body length is 9 cm.

They are the smallest of the flying dragon family. The length of the body is only nine centimeters, the color gray or brown is almost indistinguishable from the bark of the trees on which they live.

horned dragon

A unique species that lives on the island of Kalimantan. Includes two populations. One of them lives in mangroves, the other prefers lowland rainforests. Remarkable feature horned lizards is their ability to disguise themselves as falling leaves. The mangrove dragon has red membranes, while its relative is green with a brown tint.

Imitation of falling leaves allows animals to soar freely in space without fear of attack birds of prey. According to scientists, reptiles do not use their camouflage to communicate. Individuals that have migrated to other forest zones acquire the adaptive color of their membranes. In any place of their habitat, they imitate leaf fall.

The ability for divergent evolution distinguishes the miniature lizard from many representatives of the fauna of our planet. Nature endowed them with the ability to fly and masquerade as the only way to survive in harsh conditions wild jungle.

In this video you will learn more about the little dragon: