Meet the Thorny devil
Few lizards look as fierce, or are as harmless, as the thorny devil. This small desert dragon is covered in densely packed spikes and walks with a slow, rocking gait that is thought to confuse birds of prey.
It is a strict ant specialist. A thorny devil parks itself beside an ant trail and flicks up ants one at a time with its sticky tongue, eating thousands in a day.
Water is scarce where it lives, so its skin does the drinking. Narrow channels between the scales draw water by capillary action from damp sand, dew or rain, moving it across the body to the corners of the mouth. When threatened it tucks its real head down between its front legs and presents a spiny 'false head' on the back of its neck, and it can puff itself up to look bigger.
John Edward Gray named the species Moloch horridus in 1841. Moloch is the name of an ancient Near Eastern god usually depicted as a monstrous figure, and horridus means bristly or rough. In spring, males court females with head-bobbing and leg-waving, and females lay about 3 to 10 eggs in a burrow around 30 cm deep.
Where it lives
Much of arid Australia, including large parts of Western Australia, the southern half of the Northern Territory, South Australia and western Queensland. Found on sandy plains and sandridge desert with spinifex and mallee.