Australian Water Dragon

DESCRIPTION

They have a line of spines descending from the base of the head to the tail, decreasing in size. The males are larger than the females. A dark stripe runs from their eyes to their tails. They can change their colour slowly to help their camouflage. They shed their skin to allow growth.

ETHOLOGY

They are extremely timid, but adapt to human presence in suburban areas such as parks or gardens. They run fast, are good climbers thanks to their claws, and are very good swimmers. Faced with the threat of a predator, they hide among vegetation, and are able to jump from a branch into water, where they swim to escape danger. They spend most of the time in the sun or in the water.

CURIOSITIES

Due to the flat sides of the tail, they can swim fully submerged to escape predators and can stay underwater for up to 90 minutes. Their main predators are carnivorous birds such as eagles or kingfishers, snakes, dogs, cats and foxes.