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Australian Water Dragon

Physignathus lesueurii

Description:

very friendly and cheeky! Australian water dragons have long powerful limbs and claws for climbing, a long muscular laterally-compressed tail for swimming, and prominent nuchal and vertebral crests.[1] (A nuchal crest is a central row of spikes at the base of the head. These spikes continue down the spine, getting smaller as they reach the base of the tail.)[2] Including their tails, which comprise about two-thirds of their total length, adult females grow to about 60 cm (2 feet) long, and adult males can grow slightly longer than one metre (3 feet) and weigh about 1 kg. Males show bolder colouration and have larger heads than females.[3][4] Colour is less distinct in juveniles

Habitat:

As its name suggests, the Australian water dragon is associated with water and is semi-aquatic. It can be found near creeks, rivers, lakes and other water bodies that also have basking sites such as overhanging branches or rocks in open or filtered sun. This particular water dragon was a visitor at a cafe in Maleny, obviously he wasnt too shy!!

Notes:

This particular water dragon was a visitor at a cafe in Maleny, obviously he wasnt too shy!!

2 Species ID Suggestions

I'll second that :) Australian Water Dragon
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Australian water dragon
Physignathus lesueurii Australian water dragon


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3 Comments

KMills
KMills 12 years ago

thanks for your help... details now filled in!

Christiane
Christiane 12 years ago

Yes.. definitely a cheeky male water dragon.. :D

ShannaB
ShannaB 12 years ago

He's huge! Definitely a water dragon though. : )

KMills
Spotted by
KMills

QLD, Australia

Spotted on Nov 10, 2011
Submitted on Feb 23, 2012

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