The Backyard Zoo

by Jim Dunlap

"Dragons"

How about them dragons? What with all the dragon talk lately, e.g., Gandorf, Harry, Shrek, et.al. I thought we would discuss the five new dragons we added to the collection this week. A local hobbyist decided he wanted to get a new hobby with something that did not require feeding.

No fire breathing or threatening damsels here, these are Australian bearded dragons.

This dragon is a squat-bodied, rather large, stout-tailed lizard that has a series of big, pointy scales across his throat. When frightened, showing off for the girls, or trying to scare off another lizard, the male dragon will open its mouth and expand these scales. It looks like a prickly "beard." We have "yellow-headed" bearded dragons with racing stripes on each side of their heads the color of ripe lemons. This dragon is a heat loving (but can’t produce any) reptile and enjoys sunning himself under a big sunlamp. In the wilds of Australia he enjoys a varied diet. Plants, bugs, other lizards, spiders and an occasional mouse are all consumed with great gusto. He is a sit-and-wait predator (so am I!) and depends on his camouflage to hid him in his Australian habitat. He spends a considerable amount of time doing very little. When a small lizard or insect wanders within range he darts forward and grabs the prey in his strong jaws.

Mom lays her thirty-five or so eggs in the warm sand for incubation. The young hatch and are ready to go out into the world to sit-and-wait. That kind of behavior makes me think that he and I have some common ancestry!

I remember back in college, for a writing assignment, I rewrote the old Anglo-Saxon epic "Beowulf" as seen through the eyes of the dragon "Grendel." My professor loved it and I got an A- on the paper. Out of curiosity I asked why just an A- to which he replied, "One does not just re-write ‘Beowulf.’ You knew from the accent he was not from around here. There are no skeletons in my closet. They are all dragons.

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