The lizard that opens a giant umbrella and runs on two legs
When this lizard is scared, it unfolds a giant umbrella around its head and runs on two legs.
Which one is REALLY true about the Frilled Lizard?
The short version
The frilled lizard keeps a dinner-plate-sized frill folded flat until threatened, then flares it to look several times bigger, hissing and lunging. If the bluff fails, it sprints away upright on its two back legs like a tiny dinosaur. The frill is just loose, colorful skin.
Why it's so weird
- ✓The Frilled Lizard keeps a dinner-plate-sized frill folded flat against its neck until something scares it.
- ✓The Frilled Lizard flares that frill to look several times bigger, then hisses and lunges to sell the bluff.
- ✓The Frilled Lizard sprints away upright on its two back legs like a tiny dinosaur if the bluff fails.
- ✓The Frilled Lizard has a frill that is really just loose, colorful skin, so the whole display is mostly show.
- ✓The Frilled Lizard comes from Australia and has one of the best bluffs in all of nature.
You could line up about 1 of them along a 7-year-old!
The full story
When this lizard gets scared, it snaps open a huge umbrella all around its own head. Meet the frilled lizard, a reptile from Australia with one of the best bluffs in all of nature. Most of the time the frill lies folded flat against its neck, almost completely invisible. But when a predator approaches, the lizard whips around, gapes its mouth wide, and flares out a frill that can be the size of a dinner plate, instantly making it look several times bigger and far more dangerous. It hisses and lunges to really sell the act. And if the bluff does not work, it simply turns and sprints away on its two back legs, running upright like a tiny dinosaur. The whole display is mostly show, since the frill is really just loose, colorful skin. Follow for more weird animal facts.
The frill is loose neck skin held out by thin, springy rods of bone and cartilage that attach to the lizard's throat — the same set of bones (called the hyoid) that also move its tongue. When the lizard opens its mouth wide in alarm, muscles pull on these rods so they swing outward and stretch the skin flat, like the ribs of an umbrella snapping open. That is why the gaping mouth and the flared frill always fire together: the jaw and the frill are physically linked. Suddenly looking huge and brightly colored tricks predators into thinking they have met a much bigger, more dangerous animal, so they back off before any real fight.
📚 Source: Frilled lizard — Wikipedia ↗Scientists who studied the frilled lizard's anatomy found the frill is held out by rod-like cartilage from its throat (hyoid) skeleton; those rods, the lower jaw, and a special throat cartilage swing the frill open the instant the lizard gapes its mouth — which is why the wide-open mouth and the flared frill always fire together.
📚 Source: Frilled lizard — Wikipedia ↗Watch the 45-second version
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“The Frilled Lizard keeps a dinner-plate-sized frill folded flat against its neck until something scares it.”
“The Frilled Lizard walks across the seabed on stubby leg-like fins instead of swimming.”
“The Frilled Lizard flares that frill to look several times bigger, then hisses and lunges to sell the bluff.”