Frilled Lizard

With mouth agape he raised his ruff
But I knew it was only bluff
I knew he was not that tough
And would soon tire of this stuff

But then he had a better plan
With brilliant orange frilly fan
Tucked in closely, off he ran
On two hind legs just like a man

Looking for a place to flee
He quickly ran straight up a tree
Where safety was a gaurantee
And he could keep an eye on me

Somehow watching through the tree
On the other side from me
Always moving round the tree
Practising his ESP

There are few sights more magnificant than a frilled lizard which is probably why it was selected as the cover photo on my 1979 Edition of Harold G.Cogger's Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia. It is an iconic species that adorned the now obsolete 2c piece and is still common in the dry sclerophyll forests of tropical Australia and New Guinea. They were very common on Groote Eylandt when I was there in the 1990's and referred to by the local Aborigines as man-lizards due to their habit of running on their back legs when alarmed which on Groote was frequent with no shortage of hungry hunters. Not suprisingly for an arboreal species, they climb really well despite their large size and this coupled with their speed gives them a fair degree of protection. What I could never figure out is how they would manage to keep on the far side of the tree when I was trying to get a closer look at one. Fast or slow, clockwise or anticlockwise they would mirror my movement to remain on the far side of the tree. Although arboreal, the frilled lizard spends a lot of time on the ground hunting for insects and small invertebrates and when started will initally raise its ruff and open its mouth to expose sharp teeth in an attempt to frighten off the intruder. If this fails it is time to run like the wind and straight up the nearest tree.