Anatomy, Skeletal And General Info Of A Bearded Dragon

Bearded Dragons in the wild will live to a maximum of about 5 years, however dragons that are kept in captivity as pets can usually survive for around 7-10, this is being increased as there is more advance ways of taking care of them. Trying to determine the sex of a bearded dragon is actually very difficult, it has nothing to do with head or body size but rather certain lumps in certain places - luckily I wouldn't have to try to consider this when I was designing as my main idea is based on the head shape. The main reason they have the name 'Bearded Dragon' is because of the small spiky skin underneath their mouth, this inflates and becomes darker when the dragon wants to show dominance, this is another idea that I explored because it was a key feature to a bearded dragon. A head bob is also used to show dominance and try and win over a mate - these are usually around their mating season, captive dragons don't have a mating season but will still continue to do these things at inanimate objects if they see them as a threat. To show submission a dragon will slowly wave one arm as though they are saying goodbye.

Vision - Beardies have a very good sense of vision, and because their eyes are on the side of their head they have a lot wider field but their depth is very bad.

Hearing - They have small holes on either side of their head which they hear from, nothing blocking these results in great hearing.

Touch - The scales on a dragons tummy help him feel vibrations not only that but when it rains water is collected between the spikes and it is then dribbled to the mouth.

Taste - The tip of their tongue is adhesive, this helps them get food from a distance just by sticking out their tongue, Their sense of taste is also a lot more advanced from us humans, they also use their mouth to cool themselves down by just holding it open.

Smell - Again, beardies use their mouth to smell, similarly like snakes, they use their tongue.

Parietal Eye - This could technically be called their third eye, there is a slight spot on top of their head and in between their 2 normal eyes this 'eye' sense heat and shadows which is also a warning device to them from their main predators which are birds. It also helps them to bask.

When designing my bearded dragon look I wanted to see what they're skeletal system looked like as one of my main features that I am focusing on is their head size and shape. Below is a pretty general diagram for a lizard which also applies to the bearded dragon species.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/waldo_20012001/
anatomy.jpg

Although I am not looking at any of this in depth it was just quite interest to read about and take some of it into consideration when I was designing my look. (Except I found none of it a source of inspiration which is then why I moved on to the skeletal system of a bearded dragon rather than their anatomy)

http://www.thereptiledungeon.freeservers.com/mvc-273f.jpg

I started to then look at a bearded dragons skull shape and a close up of their face to get more of an inspiration. The main shape of the skull is above the eyes, the skull seems to go a lot wider around the top, almost like a triangle shape - this is the aspect that I would like to try and recreate. I don't think I am going to be able to create all of the pieces I would like to out of silicone so I will have to find another way to build up the forehead and eyebrows of my model.






http://beardeddragoncaresheet.weebly.com/general-info.html