NAUSICAA, the French National Sea Centre in Boulogne-sur-Mer (France), has welcomed three frilled lizards to its new ‘Island Stories’ exhibition.
Native to Australia and Papua New Guinea, the frilled lizard spends most of its time in trees, only visiting the ground to hunt for insects such as caterpillars and beetles. The lizard gets the name ‘frilled’ from the display made using its collar, which it will extended to impress predators and make itself appear bigger.
Male frilled lizards generally measure between 80 and 90 cm, with females slightly smaller at around 60 cm. The lizards reproduce during the rainy season, with females laying a dozen or so eggs, which she will bury in the soil to protect from predators and incubate for around 70 days.
NAUSICAA is a unique marine environment with its large-scale structure the first of its kind in Europe. Built in the shape of a manta ray, the aquarium hold a staggering 10,000 m3 of water, equivalent to 4 Olympic size pools, and is populated with almost 60,000 creatures, including sharks, manta rays and shoals of fish.
For more information on visiting NAUSICAA from the UK go to www.nausicaa.co.uk
Discover Animals is a small team dedicated to bringing you the latest conservation and nature news. If you enjoy our content, please support our work with a donation from as little as £1.
