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I've spotted quite a few large lizards around Brisbane's parks, such as in Roma Street Parklands. Today, while I sat in a park by the river, one scuttled over. I took his photo, then he pushed himself up high showing off his red chest, and looked distinctly unhappy about me being there.

Coming to see me

At this point a gaggle of German tourists spotted him and ran over to take his picture, which caused him to make a dash for the nearest bush. I therefore didn't get to discover first-hand if he (or she!) was dangerous or not.

The FourSquare page on Roma Street Parkland has quite a few tips about these, calling them variously lizards and dragons. Some seem to suggest they are friendly, others that they're dangerous, but I'm not sure if all of these entries are serious.

Does anyone know what kind of lizard / dragon / reptile these are? And from that, if they're dangerous or not?

In case it helps, here's a slightly closer photo of another one I came across a few days ago:

A different one up close

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Gagravarr
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1 Answers1

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Looks like an Eastern Water Dragon to me. From wildlife.qld.com.au:

Sexually dimorphic with males more robust than females. Prominent spines on head and along length of back, with a laterally compressed body and tail. Long powerful limbs. Olive green to brown in colour with short dark bands on the body, dark stripe behind the eye. Males have a distinctive red flush over the chest.

From http://reptilesofaustralia.com/lizards/agamids/plesuerii.htm:

enter image description here

Apparently they make good pets, but like all goannas, lizards, dragons, crocodiles etc., the bite could be nasty and depending on what they have in their jaws, could be easily infected.

Rory Alsop
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