Card #058 · Reptiles
Frilled-neck lizard
Chlamydosaurus kingii
Common LC · Least Concern
Field notes
- Classification
- Order Squamata · Family Agamidae
- Range
- Australia & New Guinea
- Size
- To ~90 cm (35 in)
- Weight
- ~600 g (1.3 lb)
- Lifespan
- ~4–6 yrs (wild)
- Diet
- Insectivore
Most Notable
Cornered, it throws up a great disc of skin around its neck, up to 30 cm across, gapes its bright mouth and hisses to look far too big to eat, then turns and bolts away upright on its two hind legs.
Between such dramas it lives a quiet life in the treetops, spending more than nine-tenths of its day aloft hunting ants and termites; the same frill it flares in threat also helps it gather or shed heat to control its temperature.
The frill is a fan of skin stiffened by rods of cartilage linked to the jaw, so when the lizard opens its mouth wide the whole collar springs up at once.
It is a famous Australian icon, once pictured on the country's two-cent coin, and known for its startling, cartoonish sprint on two legs.
It ranges across the tropical north of Australia and into southern New Guinea, waiting out the dry season quietly and turning most active in the summer wet, when insects boom.
Range: Tropical woodland of northern Australia and southern New Guinea.