11/5/2023 0 Comments Fantasy forest story dracoThey can generally glide for 8 meters on average. While jumping, the lizard will spread its wings and glide to the ground. The Flying Lizard is best known for its ability to 'fly.' This is accomplished by the climbing tree and jumping. This is believed to allow the lizard to avoid the greatest light intensity during the day (Hairston, 1957). Between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM, the lizard takes a break from normal activity. This lizard is active from approximately 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM and then again after 1:00 PM into the afternoon. Incubation of the eggs take approximately 32 days (Card, 1994). After this period, no further guarding occurs. For approximately twenty four hours, the female will guard the eggs fiercely. She will then lay five eggs into the hole and cover them with dirt, packing the soil on top of them with a patting motion of her head. The female Draco will build a nest for the eggs by forcing her head into the soil to create a small hole. The female will only show display patterns to stop or prevent copulation (Hairston, 1957). The male will also spread his dewlap to a fully erect position and then circle the female three times before copulation. These include the spreading of the wings and a bobbing motion of the entire body when the two are in close proximity to each other. Males, and occasionally females, show several displays. It is not known exactly when reproduction occurs, but it is assumed to be in December and January. Also, the ventral side of the wings is yellow (Mori and Hikida, 1994). Females are slightly different in that the dewlap is smaller and bluish gray. They also have bluish color on the ventral side of the wings, and brown on the dorsal side. The male Draco has a long pointed dewlap, which is bright yellow. The species is distinguished from other Dracos by the rows of rectangular brown spots on the top of the wing membranes, and black spots on the bottom of the wing (Mori and Hikida, 1994). This includes the length of the long slender tail which is approximately 114 mm on males and 132 mm on females (Taylor, 1966). The male flying lizard is approximately 195 mm in length while the female is 212 mm. They also have a gular flap called a dewlap, which is located under the head. The flying lizard is characterized by a large set of "wings" along the sides of the body, which are used for flight. The flying lizard is found mainly in rain forests and tropical areas that can provide adequate number of trees for the lizard to jump from (Hairston, 1957). This includes the Philippine Islands as well as Borneo (Taylor, 1966). The Flying Lizard is found in tropical rain forests in southern India and Southeast Asia.
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