page_title: Draco dussumieri
section_title: Behaviour and ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Draco dussumieri / Behaviour and ecology
caption_attribution_description: English: Southern flying lizard
context_page_description: Draco dussumieri or Indian flying lizard, is a species of agamid lizard capable of gliding from tree to tree. It is found principally in the Western Ghats and some other hill forests of Southern India. They are almost completely arboreal, found on trees in forests and adjoining palm plantations where they climb trees to forage for insects and glide to adjoining trees by expanding the patagium, loose skin on the sides of the body which are supported by elongated ribs to act as wings. The skin on the sides of the neck are also extended to the sides using the hyoid bones of the tongue to support them. During the breeding season males maintain small territories which they defend from other males while courting females. Males have a more colourful patagium than females and they prominently extend their yellow dewlaps forward in display. Although living almost their entire lives on the trees, females descend to the ground to lay eggs in soil. This is the species with the western most distribution within the genus Draco, the majority of species occurring in Southeast Asia.
context_section_description: The southern flying lizard feeds on insects. They are strictly diurnal and sleep at night on flat surfaces. Specimens from northern Karnataka were found to feed on a large number of ants (Oecophylla smaragdina). Males display actively from February to April in Kerala, mainly in the forenoon after the sun warms them up. Males maintain small territories and bob their head and erect the gular pouch when they spot females nearby. They also change their skin colour to become silvery grey and conspicuous before gliding towards the female. They leap off with their hind legs making use of specially adapted musculature at the base of the tail before spreading the patagium. During the heat of the day in summer they rest in the cooler canopy and become active again in the late afternoon while they bask during the cooler weather. Males chase females and court them with ritualized moves. The male mounts the female and bites the nape during copulation. Males intimidate intruding males by expanding and folding their patagium and making conspicuous movements. These lizards are almost entirely arboreal. Females descend to the ground to lay eggs in soil during the monsoons. About four eggs are laid which hatch after fifty days or so.
  In a population estimate made in an areca plantation in the Western Ghats, the density was found to be about 13 per hectare. The population density was much lower, less than 2 per hectare, at Valparai which is at a higher altitude.
  The southern flying lizard has many predators including arboreal snakes and birds. Two species of bird that have been observed to feed on them include the Indian golden oriole and the black-capped kingfisher. Lion-tailed macaques have been noted to feed on them as well.
caption: Southern flying lizard, @Pandalur, The Nilgiris - Tamil Nadu
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "4912", "Image ImageLength": "7360", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D810", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2019:08:29 20:00:55", "Image Copyright": "AFASJA", "Image ExifOffset": "308", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1102", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8232", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:08:13 11:47:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:08:13 11:47:49", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "915241/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "120", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "82", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "82", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1505", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2376", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "16780511/8192", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "16780511/8192", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "120", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "8907069", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[24, 120, 4, 4]", "EXIF LensModel": "24.0-120.0 mm f/4.0"}