Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I read in a child's herp book at the local forest service the other day that frilled dragons run faster on all fours then bipedal. These lizards run bipedal to escape when exposing their frill doesn't work.

I talked to my husband and he isn't sure if we can trust the research on that study. Mentioning what is the motivating factor for bipedal running and the individual lizard. For example, Ezra only runs bipedal in tall lawn grass and quite slowly(A predictable reason why I like to show him off). Annabella runs bipedal before making a jump. Cory only ran bipedal when he was a scared hatchling, now he's so plump my husband doubts he can successfully do it.

Thinking about collared lizard's skills... Ezra is great at making long jumps. The desert collared lizards try and fail, but are good at making high jumps out of tanks. Ezra never tries escaping by making high jumps.

-Nicole plus 1

i don't witness mine running bipedal, but then again, i don't let them run on a big space on the floor. once a long time ago, i witnessed walter the first running on two feet when i accidently scared the poop out of him. but my collaris are good jumpers. those three babies i hatched are forever jumping so they can hang upside down from the screen cover. they only have one more month in that tank or i would upgrade it now
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vonnie
***The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage.
— Mark Russell***

I watch many of mine bipedal when out on the floor (for short distances) and it looks so very cool indeed. They are QUICK.

I'm sure given the outdoor space they have in the wild, they must ZOOM.... LOL

Don't know about the Frillies , being quicker one way or the other, but bet they are quick, as they seem built for running if need be.

As far as jumpers, I have some good jumpers , like you say, some jump really high from the ground to the top of the screen like its CAKE ! BUT.....

The C. vestigium are awesome at jumping, and so very PRECISE , less CLUMSY than some of the other species. Some collareds , just jump aimlessly into thin air, hehehehee and miss their spot.
I do not see that with Vestigium, they seem to inately know how far they NEED to jump. They are built better/stronger in the rear I think for jumping.

Hey Nicole plus ONE, how are ya feeling? Almost time for the hatchling hunh ?
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PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

I have observed chuckwallas running the same way for short distances, I was under the impression the lizards usually have to buld up some speed to get onto the hind feet running mode. Once a number of year ago at Ocitillo Wells in California I scared a healthy hot collard lizard and it ran for about 50 ft to some granite rocks, and it was like a racer I couldn't bagin to catch up with its speed for that short distance.......
SO I am thinking that if they are runniong on their two hind legs they are more than likely running top speed as opposed to all fours???
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Phrynosoma.com

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signature file edited. [phw 11/14/04]

i thought that they also ran bipedal because it was harder for something to catch them. like instead of 4 inches of their body (snout to vent) being on the ground for something to lunge at, by standing up it only gives the predators something like an inch against the ground to lunge at (does that make any sense at all, lol)
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vonnie
***The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage.
— Mark Russell***

In a BBC documentary, it was said that the collared lizard was the fastest running thing on earth.

They run bipedal when in need to catch fast bugs. In captivity Crickets are stucked and worms are slow, so they dont develop bipedal running capability. Some may forget how to if kept too long in small places.

They may also run bipedal to escape hawks ...