Meet the Rare Flying Lizard of Wayanad!
#intothewildwithrufus
A couple of weeks ago, on our forest trek deep into the dense forests of Wayanad, we spotted this rare and lovely flying lizard – also called the Southern Flying Lizard!
The Southern Flying Lizard is an extraordinary reptile that is part and parcel of the ecological fabric of the Western Ghats.
When the lizard needs to forage, or escape predators, it leaps from a high trunk, flexes its specialised breast muscles to expand these ribs like a fan, and glides across gaps of up to 10 metres.
It is the rarest and only representative of an ancient lineage that has adapted successfully to the forests of the Western Ghats.
The male of the flying lizards possesses a prominent, bright yellow gular pouch (dewlap) under their throat. During the warmer forenoon hours, they flick this pouch forward in rhythmic, head-bobbing displays to establish territory and court females.
When the gliding membrane is deployed in the air, the underside flashes a brilliant blue in males and a vibrant yellow in females, earning them the local nickname of “butterfly lizards.”
They live almost their entire lives in the trees (only females descend to the ground, briefly, to lay eggs in the soil).
On the literary front, eminent Indian writer, novelist, photographer, publisher, painter, naturalist, and environmentalist Shri K. P. Poornachandra Tejaswi’s Carvalho is one of the most famous books centred entirely around the Southern Flying Lizard.
The novel tells the story of an enigmatic scientist, Carvalho, who leads a quirky, ragtag expedition into the dense, rain-soaked forests of the Western Ghats specifically in search of the elusive Southern Flying Lizard. The novel It is a wonderful and humorous, exploration of the human connection to the natural world and the thrills of ecological discovery.
PS: You may also want to watch our YouTube Shorts on yet another rare-o-rare reptile dubbed the ‘Mysterious Frog’, Mysticellus franki (2019) - a newly discovered genus and species of narrow-mouthed frog endemic to the Western Ghats, specifically found in areas like Wayanad. This creature is characterized by unique “false-eye” spots on its back. We spotted this frog in June 2024 in Wayanad. The video HERE.
References
Indraneil Das. A Photographic Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of India
Natarajan Singaravelan, Ed. Rare Animals of India
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