Jari Cornelis, A Land of Dragons (ANIMAL 2021)

Australia is most commonly known for the toxicity of its venomous snakes, but its reptile diversity truly lies with its lizards. Not only is Australia rich in the number of species of lizards but they come in a vast array of shapes and sizes with individual adaptations that allow them to survive in some of the harshest environments on the planet. The thorny devil (Moloch horridus) for example, most famous for its unique spinose appearance, inhabits Australia’s sandy deserts where rain is scarce and there are rarely puddles to drink from. However, due to the stark differences in temperature between day and night water droplets can form as dew on vegetation and all the thorny devil has to do is brush up against the leaves while foraging and the water droplets will be funnelled between its scales to its mouth by capillary action. Another iconic Australian lizard is the central bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps), although it is a medium sized lizard there are still many predators in the outback that it has to avoid, mainly relying on its camouflage. In the event that it is somehow detected the bearded dragon can put on an impressive defensive display where it presents its spiky beard and opens its mouth to show a flash of bright colouration. Finally, the western netted dragon (Ctenophorus reticulatus), the lesser known of the three species presented here. It doesn’t have any spikes or a beard but that doesn’t make it any less of a survivalist. This particular individual lives on top of the barren, windswept cliffs of mainland Australia’s most westerly point in Edel Land where it shelters under small rocks to escape the blistering midday sun and emerges in cooler temperatures to forage for invertebrates.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.