📸 PhotoPhoto: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Common Flying Dragon
Draco volans (Common Flying Dragon · ジャワトビトカゲ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 An average glide of about 8 m at a time is roughly the length of two passenger cars placed end to end (Comparison).
- 💡 A female's maximum length of 212 mm is almost identical to the short side of an A4 sheet (210 mm) (Comparison).
- 💡 Many people in the Philippines believe it is venomous, though this is untrue; the benefit to humans is simply the enjoyment of watching this colorful lizard 'fly' (ADW).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Common Flying Dragon is a small lizard that glides from tree to tree in tropical rainforests.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Along its flanks are wing-like skin membranes supported by elongated ribs, and beneath its chin is a dewlap. Its body is flat and elongated, with rows of rectangular brown spots on top of the wing membranes and black spots underneath.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Active by day, it waits beside tree trunks to eat ants and termites. It leaps from trees and spreads its wing membranes to glide an average of about 8 m, and females push their heads into soil to dig a small hole, lay 5 eggs, and cover them with dirt.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2018) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/99929352/99929358
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 37K7T
- • iucnredlist.org — 99929358
- • wikidata.org — Q612564
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Flying lizard (Draco volans) male.jpg
- • animaldiversity.org — Draco volans
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Sarah Werning · CC BY 3.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.