Chameleon Dragons

This was the most seen dragon out on Marble Bar Rd in the Pilbara. It frequently ran off the road in front of us. It was such a thrill to see so many dragons at all times of the day. We were here on December 22-24 and the weather was approximately 39 degrees with afternoon cloud cover.

Dragons are in the Agamidae Family with 64 species found in Australia. There are at least six subspecies of Ring-tailed Bicycle dragons. I can not confirm which species these photographs are but they fall into the range of the

C.c.caudicinctus.

Ctenophorus caudicintus caudicinctus found in the Pilbara and Gascoyne regions.
Ctenophorus caudicintus mensarum found in the southern Gascoyne and Murchison districts.
Ctenophorus caudicintus infans found in the Murchison and western Goldfields districts.
Ctenophorus caudicintus graafi found in the Warburton district.
Ctenophorus caudicintus slateri found in the central region around Alice Springs.
Ctenophorus caudicintus macropus occurs in Northern Australia.

This photograph was taken with a digital camera that only has a 3 times digital zoom. So to get this close I had to follow this dragon around until it got somewhat used to my annoying presence. I don't feel the need to capture lizards in order to photograph them, instead I watch their movements and body language and try to anticipate what they will do next so that I may take a photo. This required me crawling around on the hot rocks staying as still as I could with sweat pouring off me and then off after them again when they took off. Eventually I got within 30cm of this dragon.

Marble Bar Rd Nullagine

Marble Bar in the Pilbara Western Australia

So why is this dragon called a Bicycle dragon?

Its said to run like it is riding a bicycle with its legs going up and down. I didn't find this dragon to run with a particularly up and down motion though.

Its called the Ring-tail bicycle dragon as it has a clearly blackish banded tail.

What do they eat?

This dragon along with all dragons are carnivores. It must hunt for its food during the day. After rain we saw here an abundance of grasshoppers and other insects such as dragonflies etc. It may run on its back legs to capture flying insects.

This grasshopper was photographed at Wanna Munna (or Wanna Manna) where these Bicycle dragons have been seen.

A baby dragon hatches from an egg. 3-8 eggs are in each clutch.

This little Ring-tailed Bicycle dragon is a juvenile photographed at Weano Gorge at Karajini National Park in the Pilbara in August.

Weano Gorge, Karijini National Park, Western Australia

When I put my video clip into an editing software where I could see the film frame by frame I could see how the front legs were used to do the bobbing up and down motion, typical of dragons and the hind legs kicked out as the dragon sprung away. Unfortunately the software doesn't have a slow motion capture function.

I would see the dragon bobbing up and down just before it would usually take off with a leap.

Go Here to see our short video of this dragon bobbing and running.

Although the temperature for this region at this time of year was reasonable the red rocks are very hot as there is little shade. Here you can see this dragon lifting his toes and one front foot off the rocks. Within a few moments it will switch feet.

I saw these dragons run in short bursts and stop frequently . Sometimes coming to rest on the highest rock around and other times on a lower rock. With its colouring blending in so well with the different coloured rocks it can soak up the sun and hopefully not be spotted by a larger monitor or bird of prey.

Dales Gorge in the Karijini National Park near Tom Price in the Pilbara.

A Ring-tailed Bicycle Dragon that we found at Weano camping area in the Karijini National Park Pilbara had much more pronounced lips and were much yellowier than the dragons found on Marble Bar Rd. It did not look like any of the subspecies that I was able to find however many reptiles have varying marking and colourings and juvenile, females and male species can also be of different colourings and size.
The Males have a more red colouring on their backs and the females a more grey colouring.

Text

"Australian Reptiles A Photographic Reference to the Terrestrial Reptiles of Australia" by Stephen K Wilson, David G Knowles.
CD Rom "Australian Reptiles and Frogs" by Herald Ehnann and Micheal Tyler.