Meet the Frilled-neck lizard
The frilled-neck lizard is a tree-dwelling dragon of the tropical north. It spends more than 90 per cent of its time in trees, sitting still and watching for insects on the ground below before dropping down to grab them.
Its famous frill is a large flap of skin around the neck. When the lizard opens its mouth wide, the frill flares out to around 30 cm across, making the animal look far bigger than it is. Males use it in rivalry and courtship as well as to bluff predators. Frill colour changes across the range: red in the west of the Kimberley, orange through the Top End and yellow to whitish in Queensland.
If bluffing does not work, a frillneck will run off upright on its hind legs to the nearest tree. Females lay clutches of eggs during the late dry and early wet season, and incubation temperature influences whether hatchlings are male or female.
John Edward Gray described the species in 1825. The genus name Chlamydosaurus means 'cloaked lizard', and kingii honours Phillip Parker King, the Australian-born naval surveyor who charted much of the northern coast.
Where it lives
Tropical northern Australia from the Kimberley in Western Australia across the Top End of the Northern Territory to Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, plus southern New Guinea. Lives in savanna and open eucalypt woodland.