20 Cute Facts About Bearded Dragons

20 Cute Facts About Bearded Dragons

The bearded dragon’s scientific name is “Pogona Vitticeps,” but they are often affectionately referred to as ‘beardies’ by their owners. Bearded dragons are lizards belonging to the so-called Squamata order and they are medium-sized lizards usually 12-24 inches in length from their head to the tip of their tail. They were introduced to the United States in the 1990s and due to their friendly demeanour, wild appearance, idle nature, intelligence, and permanent smiles, they are often kept as pets and can be found in all pet shops in North America, United States, Europe and Australia, as one of the most popular reptiles.

They live in the deserts, scrublands, savannas, and subtropical forests of most countries such as Australia. The bearded dragon has different colors and sometimes this helps to identify which environment they came from. Bearded dragons are usually active during the day and they mainly feed on insects. If you’re looking to adopt a bearded dragon here are 20 cute interesting facts about them that you may not have known about your smiley friend.

1. They can regrow their teeth

Bearded dragon loses their teeth when they are in the process of trying to catch prey or when they are tearing apart their food. They can, however, regrow their lost teeth over time so it’s a non-issue to them. The bearded dragon has both polyphyodont and monophyodont teeth and therefore they use the same biological process that sharks and geckos use to regrow their polyphyodont front tooth. If their permanent monophyodont teeth which are at the back and sides of the dragon’s mouth fall out, they don’t grow back.      

2. They communicate with nods and waves

A cute fun about bearded dragons is that they usually communicate by waving and nodding mostly when they see a familiar lizard. They wave when they see their owners, signalling that they recognize humans as well. Their waving can also be a sign of submission to a larger and more dominant dragon. Bearded dragons communicate by nodding to show dominance and also can be a sign of initiating mating between both sexes.

3. Bearded dragons can sleep while standing

Bearded Dragon. Christopher Watson , CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

They can be able to sleep while standing because of their ability to lock their hind legs, which allows them to hold themselves in an upright position while they are sleeping. This ability to support themselves in an upright position while sleeping can be a great advantage to them when they have to sleep between rocks and creviced. The bearded dragon can also choose to support themselves against something. Their owners have also reported them sleeping in highly awkward positions, like propped up against the glass walls and ornaments inside their tanks.

4. You can tell how they’re feeling from their scales or on their chins

When the bearded dragon is feeling threatened, stressed or even aroused they tend to go black, expand and puff up its entire body to look big. On the other hand, when the bearded dragon is feeling happy its chin will be similarly coloured to the rest of the body with its spines flattened against its skin that almost feels smooth when touched.

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5. They can change colour

A picture of a bearded dragon. SpidercolonY, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

They can change their colour just like the chameleon’s but it’s not that quick to notice. Interestingly, the bearded dragon can isolate parts of the body it wants to change colour. Scientists have proven that they change the colour of their neck region to social interactions and change the colour of their back to temperature regulations. The beard will turn its scales darker in order to absorb more heat in case they are feeling cold and wants to maintain its ideal internal body temperature of 95 degrees. When they are hot on the other hand, their scales will turn lighter to reflect rays and prevent them from overheating.

6. Bearded dragon can run on two legs

The reason why they are able to do this is because bearded dragons are able to lock their hind legs which is why they can stand and sleep while standing, but also, they can run like this too. This happens because the bearded dragon’s centre of gravity is shifted to the backside which makes them move quicker, but it also means when they move at a very fast speed it makes it more difficult for them to keep their front legs on the ground and they eventually continue to run when they are upright. It is believed that all this happens because of an evolutionary fault.

7. They enjoy swimming

Bearded dragon enjoys the waters despite them living in deserts, scrublands, subtropical forests and savannahs. They have the ability to inflate themselves with air so that they can increase their buoyancy while in water. Although they love to swim most of them just prefer to lay in shallow pools of water while they bask or just take a break from the heat, but others enjoy swimming in the deeper water as a special enrichment treat. The movement motion in the water is similar to that of a crocodile in that they swing their tail back and forth just like a rudder.

8. They love climbing trees

Bearded Dragons on a tree branch.  MoserB at German Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Bearded dragons like to spend a lot of their time in trees and bushes; therefore, this means they are technically semi-arboreal. Their claws have s strong grip therefore, this helps them to hold onto rocks, trees and bushes easily. They climb trees when food is unavailable at the ground level or when they’re being coaxed by a predator. The bearded dragon is able to scale trees for a good patch of sun or to bask at a higher level than another bearded dragon so that they can symbolize dominance.

9. Bearded dragons can run at a human speed

The bearded dragon can run up to 9mph which can also be compared to human running speed. However, they are mostly calm and they live a sedentary lifestyle and can be found most of the time sunbathing or basking. When it’s time to pick up their speed, the bearded dragon might raise up on its hind legs and run as quickly as a human being. Since it carries a lot of weight in the back their ability to stand upright on their hind legs enables them to optimize their speed while running.

10. They have unique behaviours

A bearded dragon sunbathing. George Chernilevsky, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Bearded dragons have plenty of unique behaviours that can be so different from their species. The most common unique behaviour is the head bob which both males and females use as a mating signal. It can also be a sign of dominance between males competing for mates or territory. In addition to the head bob, the bearded dragon can also wave to their fellow lizards or their owners to show they are familiar with them. Bearded dragons can also be seen in their pictures to be laying out in their vivariums as if they are sunbathing on the beach, posing while waiting for their pictures to be taken.

11. They don’t pee in liquid

An interesting fact about the bearded dragon is that they don’t pee in liquid, it releases uric acid in the form of white powder called urate and it usually comes out with all the other waste. They release pee that is in powder form because they come from the desert and every drop of water needs to be preserved. Bearded dragons excrete through the cloaca which is the same cavity from where all waste comes from. Therefore, bearded dragon owners do not have to worry about handling them because they won’t pee on them.

12. Bearded dragons don’t actually have beards

It can be assumed that bearded dragon has actual beards but their name ‘beard’ comes from the spiny scales underneath their necks. These spiny scales are used as a defence mechanism in that the bearded dragon will puff and display these spines to scare off its predators. When they also open their mouth, these spiny scales will puff out as a mating display and they will also change colour and become black giving the appearance of them having a beard.

13. Male beardies can be to females by incubation temperature

When the temperature is 96.8 degrees and above, the eggs transition to females 100% and if the temperature is less than 96.8% then they will be more likely to be male 100%. Aside from changing their sex, the female bearded dragon that was originally male can also be able to produce twice as many eggs as non-trans females. Furthermore, warmer weather during bearded development enhances their learning ability, slowing it down drastically the warmer the temperature. This heat-driven phenomenon can be a hindrance to the lizard’s ability to adapt to climate change even though its population is currently stable.

14. It’s challenging to differentiate between a male and a female

Jpkaiser2, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The female and male have no real differences in appearance because they are androgynous and it can be quite difficult to determine the sex of a bearded dragon. Both the female and the male have a wide variety of colours and sizes, but one can use femoral pores, larger heads and larger darker beards to spot a male bearded dragon.

15. Female beardie can be able to store sperm and give only birth twice

The female beardie can able to store sperm from the male in their reproductive tract, then they will be able to fertilize the eggs herself. The eggs will fertilize if only the stored sperm is used within the same breeding period. Therefore, this enables the female to lay two clutches which contain 10 to 30 eggs per season after only mating once. This allows her to maximize the number of offspring while minimizing the interaction with a potential male who often makes it violent by biting his mate’s neck.

16. They collect water on their heads

Bearded dragons come from desert places so they have to find ways to survive, and one of the ways in which they survive is by storing water on their own body during the peak of drought. The lizards have been seen standing on their hind legs with their heads sloping downwards, drinking up the water as it streams down their faces for 20 to 30 minutes at a time.

17. They brumate during the colder seasons

Brumation is a similar process to hibernation and it starts in the Northern Hemisphere around November and starts in June in the wild when the winter hits Australia. During these colder months, it can be hard for the lizard to regulate body temperature and therefore, they just brumate which begins with sluggishness and a loss of appetite and leads to a long sleep where the dragon’s heart rate, body temperature and metabolism will decrease for the bearded dragon to retain its energy.

18. They can see in colour

Their eyes have rods and cones which enable them to see different colours. Since they are omnivores, this ability is an evolutionary advantage because it helps when the bearded dragon is trying to distinguish different fruits and vegetables. It is believed that the bearded dragon loves carrots because of their bright orange which is usually attractive to them. Bearded dragons are omnivores.

19 Bearded dragons are omnivores

Beardies are said to be omnivores because they eat insects, meat, vegetables and fruits. Their favourites include carrots, dandelions, kale, collard greens and apples. They use their short tongues to capture and eat worms and crickets. Bearded dragons also eat natural foods and can be provided commercially produced diets sold in stores. In order to persuade the bearded dragon to feed on commercial food, conversion methods may be of help. Although they eat a wide variety of meat and vegetables, they do eat fireflies and avocados because they can make them ill or even lead to their death.

20. They love to sunbathe

A bearded drago sunbathing. Joseph C Boone, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Due to their cold-blooded nature, they tend to get their body heat from external sources and therefore, this is the reason why they will spend most of their day sunbathing or basking. The dragons must also have access to natural sunlight for good health. The UV lighting from the sun helps their bodies to make vitamin D which helps them absorb phosphorous and calcium from their food. Lack of proper lighting can cause impaction which is the building up of solid substances in the lizard’s digestive system and thus prevents food from passing through.

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