Bearded Dragon

Bearded Dragon battle analysis

On a fence post in inland Australia, a male bearded dragon sits high in the morning sun, darkening its back to warm up faster. When a rival approaches, it bobs its head rapidly and swells its throat into a black, spiny beard. A lower-ranking dragon answers by slowly waving an arm in a circle, and the standoff ends without a bite. Most of bearded dragon life is decided this way, by signals rather than fights.

The dragon's weapons are modest. Males have broader heads and bite harder than females, and the diet ranges from termites and beetles to flowers and the odd small lizard or rodent. When a predator appears, the dragon flattens itself, inflates its beard, opens its yellow-lined mouth, hisses and hops forward. That bluff can work on a small predator, but the spines are soft and the whole animal weighs about 400 g, so birds of prey, snakes, foxes and cats all take them.

What sets the bearded dragon apart on the roster is its mind. In a trap-door experiment, dragons that watched another dragon open a door copied the same movement, the first clear case of imitation in a reptile, and it outperformed tortoises in a test of self-control. In ABS terms it is a low-Attack, low-Defense lizard with solid Agility, a notably high Intelligence for a reptile, and a moderate Special built on its threat display and colour change.

Habitat & range

The central bearded dragon lives in semi-arid and arid woodland, scrub, grassland and rocky desert across inland eastern Australia, from eastern South Australia and the southeastern Northern Territory through inland Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. It tolerates cleared farmland and perches on fence posts and even picnic tables. It retreats to shade or burrows in the hottest part of the day.

Diet & hunting

It is an opportunistic omnivore. In a stomach-content study of 14 free-roaming adults, animal food made up 61% of dry matter, termite alates made up 95% of all prey items, and plants made up 16% of dry matter. Wikipedia's summary of the same work states plant matter was 54% of the diet by volume, so the plant share depends on how it is measured. Adults also eat beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, flowers and the occasional small lizard or rodent.

Social life

Mostly solitary, but dragons gather at prime basking and feeding spots, where a clear hierarchy appears. Communication is visual: head bobs of different speeds signal dominance, submission and courtship, and arm waving signals submission.

Conservation

The species is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (2018 assessment). It is common and widespread in its range and tolerates considerable habitat change. Australia has banned the export of native wildlife since the 1960s; most of the world's captive dragons come from stock exported illegally between 1974 and 1990, and a captive-bred pet population was established by the early 1990s.

Quick answers