Did Mother Earth provide much more inspiration for Cameron’s Avatar?
A Reddit user recently posted photos of a “common gliding lizard” that appears very much like the flying dragons from “Avatar.” They are relatively common in forests and concrete environments equivalent to parks and gardens. They are present in Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Palawan (Philippines).
Yes, Draco sumatranus, the gliding lizard, is a species of agamid lizard endemic to Southeast Asia. It has elongated ribs and flaps of skin on the perimeters of its body. When opened, these flaps of skin allow it to slip between tree trunks. It lives mainly in trees, except that the females descend to the forest floor to put eggs.
The body length is roughly 9 cm (3.5 in), with a rather longer tail. The body is dark gray/brown in color with stripes and patterns to assist camouflage on tree trunks. Males have a yellow triangular flap of skin under the chin, a gum fold, which is used for communication with other lizards, mainly for mating purposes. Females have a much smaller and blue flap.
The crazy thing is that those lines running through the wings like veins are literally ribs! Evolution has done so much to those guys. They can expand and contract their chest at will to glide long distances. We managed to catch females only while laying eggs. All we could do was watch the males soar overhead.
The photos were taken in Buton, Indonesia, within the Lambusango Forest Reserve.
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