I had been going to the Parramatta Park for nearly a year when
I first came across this lizard like animal in a patch of trees just by the side
of the Parramatta River. Over the period
of the next few months we kept a lookout for these lizards in the same patch.
We took some photographs and searched the Internet to identify this animal – an
Eastern Water Dragon a semi-aquatic lizard found along the east coast of
Australia, around creeks, rivers or lakes.
The eastern water dragon is a medium to large sized lizard
and can grow up to 80cm up to the tip of its long tail. They have large heads
with a row of spines beginning on the head and leading down along their back. It
is a grey to brownish-grey colour above with patterns of black stripes along
the dorsal ridge going down the tail. The dragon can remain submerged for up to
30 minutes before it needs rise to the surface to breathe and check the area
for danger before emerging back onto land. So every time we took a walk it became a ritual to search of
these dragons and count the numbers. We think there were 2 adults and 2 young
ones seen individually basking in the sunshine. Water Dragons are usually
active from September to June and become inactive during the cooler months. To
survive the low winter temperatures Water Dragons will enter established
burrows or scrape their own between boulders and logs in or near riverbanks and
pack dirt to seal the opening. Once entombed they will slow their metabolism hibernate
until spring. When we did not see the
dragons from the middle of April actually we realised that they hibernate.
In early spring we went to the Parramatta Lake for a walk
around the woods to see the emerging flowers and were delighted with numerous
Eastern Water Dragons out basking in the sun and looking for food.
Later in summer the ones in the Parramatta Park were back in
action. In fact we saw a small one in a burrow further up the river bank. This was
a young one and so maybe it had struck out on its own as an adult, to set up
its own burrow.
