- Where to see one
- 3 U.S. zoos in our directory hold frilled lizard, confirmed against each zoo's own animal list.
Conservation status
Not Evaluated
This species has not been assessed for the IUCN Red List, so it sits outside the threat scale entirely.
About the frilled lizard
The frilled lizard is an agamid native to northern Australia and southern New Guinea, living mainly in savannahs and sclerophyll woodlands. It grows to about 90 cm from head to tail tip and weighs around 600 g, with males larger than females. Largely arboreal, it spends over 90% of each day in trees and feeds mainly on insects and other invertebrates. Its name comes from the large frill of skin around the neck, which normally lies folded against the body like a cape but is spread to scare off predators and to display to other lizards.
Frilled Lizard facts
- A fully extended frill is disc-shaped and can reach about 30 cm across, over four times the length of the torso.
- Frill colour varies by region: red west of the Ord River, orange in the middle of the range, and yellow to white further east.
- Frilled lizards probably entered New Guinea around 17,000 years ago, when a land bridge joined it to Cape York.
- It is more active in the wet season, spending more time on or near the ground.
Where to see frilled lizard in the U.S.
3 zoos across 3 states
Find the closest one
Rank the 3 zoos holding frilled lizard by how far they are from you. Your location is used in your browser to sort this list and is never sent to us.
Colorado· 1
Indiana· 1
Virginia· 1
AZAThe Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Accredited members have passed an independent inspection of animal care and welfare, safety, conservation and education, repeated every five years. Many smaller facilities never apply, so “not accredited” isn't a verdict on its own. What accreditation means · How we check this
Built from each zoo's own published animal list.
