The Real-Life Dragon You've Never Heard Of

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What if dragons were real... and they could run across water?

In this minisode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole explore one of the most incredible reptiles you've probably never heard of: the sailfin dragon, also known as the sailfin lizard (Hydrosaurus). Native to the rainforests of Southeast Asia and New Guinea, this dragon-like reptile combines the best features of an iguana, a basilisk, and a dinosaur. 

With giant sail-like fins, vivid colors, powerful swimming abilities, and juveniles capable of running across water, it's one of the most unique lizards on Earth. 

In this episode:

🐉 Why the sailfin dragon looks like a miniature dinosaur
 🌊 How young sailfin lizards can run across water before diving to safety
 🌴 Why these reptiles split their lives between trees and rivers
 🦎 The purpose of their enormous sail-like fins
 👁️ The mysterious "third eye" that helps regulate light and biological rhythms
 💜 Why some males turn brilliant violet during breeding season
 🌏 Where these incredible reptiles live throughout Southeast Asia and New Guinea

From convergent evolution to dragon-worthy adaptations, the sailfin dragon proves that some of the world's most extraordinary animals are hiding in plain sight.

If you love reptiles, dinosaurs, dragons, weird wildlife, evolutionary biology, or discovering animals you've never heard of, this episode is for you.

🎧 Part of our ongoing Animals You've Probably Never Heard Of minisode series.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Are you ready for another mini so yeah like well this is two weeks later for everybody listening, but Katie and I actually record these as a batch, so this is why it was so confusing, but totally totally makes sense that we would be doing this animal next because it is a combo of both the first two animals. My first animal lived on New Guinea, the second one was Katie's, and it was a tiny dragon. Well, guess what? I have a dragon from New Guinea. Of course. Of course. So because I also was like a dragon. Yeah. So it's called the Sailfin Lizard, also known as the Sailfin Dragon. So you gotta look it up because it's so cool looking. You can find them in the pet trade, but they're not common. No. They look so cool. They're not as they're not cute dragon.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

They're more like they were on blue planet or planet Earth. One of them, one of them did a thing on it. But continue, continue.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

So there's three species of cellophane dragon. I'm not gonna go into them. They're very similar. Um but they all live in the either Philippines, Indonesia, and New Guinea. So just that area of the world, Southeast Asia. They're live in tropical and subtropical rainforests, forests and woodlands, but always near water. So what do they look like for people who can't easily get to your phone to look this up? Picture an iguana, but with a thicker snout and some extra stuff. But they're very iguana-like lizards. Males are about a third larger than females, and these lizards are two to four feet long, depending on the species, and about three to five pounds. Like a medium-sized lizard. They're a combo of green, black, yellow, and brown coloring.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

It almost looks like it almost looks like too. If you guys know what a bascula lizard is, the Jesus Christ lizard that I said, it uh like its facial features to me anyway. Now, basculks are really tiny, but it almost looks like that face too. That's what it reminds me of.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Right, which is another weird thing because basilisks are over in the new world. These are over in the old world. So again, some like weird covert and evolution stuff. Weird. Um one really cool thing, I don't know if you can look up a picture, but during mating season, the head of the male and neck of the female of the Philippine species becomes violet. I'm talking like violet, like my shirt, violet.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I see it now. I see it now. So just like bam!

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Like you think it's like some weird saturated photo, but it's actually their skin.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Or just like it got into some paint or something.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Like it's mating season. Let's look fabulous. Yeah, I'll say. So females have a fringe of scales along their back, very much like an iguana. The males have what gives them their name, which are these giant sail fins, almost like a dinosaur. Um or a dragon, depending on your your preference. These guys are omnivores, they eat insects, invertebrates, fruits, vegetation, and fish. So, what I wanted to talk about though, like really focus on, are some of their weird or behavioral adaptations that make them pretty unique. Their genus is called Hydrosaurus, which just means water lizard. So gives you a clue as to what they like to do is be around the water. They're but they're not aquatic. They're like half and half. Um, they're super good swimmers and they're super adapted to an aquatic lifestyle, but they also spend a ton of time in the trees, so they're both arboreal and aquatic. Interesting. Um they have their toes, their scales on their toes are flattened with little fringes all around the edges, kind of like a gecko. But instead of helping them be sticky, it allows them to run on top of the water when they're literally little, just like a basilisk.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Yeah, yeah, crack.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Yeah. But only when it's young. Once they get to be bigger, they're too heavy. Um they can't do that.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

They would have to pick up some mega speed to cross the remote.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Well, and usually what they do is you see them in a tree, then they see a predator and they jump off of the tree, land on the water, and just take off running. Which would be so cool to see. It would be, yeah. When they're a grown-up and they they they can't run on top of the water, but they do use those toes to paddle really fast, because you know, it's basically almost like giving them web webbed feet. Yeah. Their sail fins also help give them an extra push in the water, like a paddle, which seems a little unfair because obviously the males get a better boost about this than the females. But both the males and females have fairly flat tails, along with the sailfin. So, like everything about it is speed, speed in the water.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Which is crazy that it that it that it isn't considered an aquatic lizard. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Because it's really not chilling in the water. It's only using the water for defense.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Which is a weird adaptation, right? It's not relying on the trees. But I guess that must mean that probab the majority of its predators must be arboreal.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

Yeah, you would think. Yeah, so it's just like, let's go. So it's like, I can't stay here. Yeah. Peace. Like, right? It either had to develop flight or something with the water. But again, then you would think that though it would then just move to be aquatic. Yeah, just move to be aquatic. It's so bizarre. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

It's like, listen, there's danger everywhere, guys. They're just like really like always on edge. Yeah. Like there's danger. Right. Um and they can hold their breath for 15 minutes. That's insane. They can also like wait it out. The sail fins uh on their bat on their bodies not only help them to swim faster, but to a lesser extent, they also help with warming up. So it increases their surface area when they're basking. So like to be warmer. If you're cold-blooded, you need a way to warm up, which is especially helpful if you've just yeeted yourself into the cold water. Right. So you're freezing. You got a quick warm-up. The males also use their cell phones for territorial displays, because of course they do. That's why they're bigger. And they're one of the few lizards that are have a third eye, a third eye on their head. So we know what we've heard tuataras do that, a couple of other species. But they have this third eye known as a pineal organ. It's on top of their heads, and it's not like an eyeball eye. It's just an organ for sensing light. It's like it's an unseeing eye. Scientists aren't totally sure if it's function, but it's thought to help with biological rhythms, hormone production, and even homing, like location. And of the three species, only the Weber's cell fin lizard is vulnerable. Any of the other ones are pretty common. And they like I said, they can be found in the pet trade, but not commonly, and they're considered a pretty difficult lizard to take care of.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

So they get pretty big. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Iguana size is no joke. Like that's a big lizard to have in your house. Um, and the water element makes them pretty like you need water too. Yeah. So if you're looking for a water arboreal dragon species, check out the cell phone lizard.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Yeah. That was really that was a really cool one. I like I said, I had only seen like a quick video of it on some documentary, but I didn't know anything else about it. Again, that's just so weird the adaptations that it evolved with over time for water, where it doesn't spend the majority of its time. It's a lot of a climbing, but yeah, so weird.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

So ready for a swim.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Yeah. All right, guys. Well, next week we are gonna bring another long episode until then. Make sure you go check us out on Patreon and support us if you can. Hi, everybody.