Angle Head Lizard

Coated with patchy shades of forest green skin, a bizarre turquoise stomach colour with striking yellow spots, a high handsome sail on its head and back, Angle Head Lizard (Gonocephalus grandis), also called Giant Forest Dragon or Giant Angle Head Lizard is an exotic and extremely beautiful reptile found in tropical rain forest of Southeast Asia.

A male angle head lizard


The female angle head lizard


They are however not commonly seen. In fact it is quite rare to encounter them in most of the tropical rain forest. This is partly due to its superb camouflage capability and largely, of their stringent demand for specific environmental conditions. They only found in pockets of areas in a large rain-forested land. Each pocket could be of high population density and you may even find couple of them in one tree. This is also their fatal weak point in surviving. Diseases, prey, illegal collecting, forest clearing, changes of habitat's nature micro-conditions, etc. could wipe out the whole population.

An angle head lizard came out in the morning for first ray of morning sunlight penetrate through the canopy.


Angle head lizard is a perfect potential choice for hobbyist, particularly exotic reptile hobbyist. But, have you ever wonder why such an outstanding candidate almost totally failed so far to gain popularity in pets market? Well, i am glad and relieve that it failed in this aspect. This will make its chances of survivor in its natural habitat brighter.

Basking in a partially shaded branch.


Dear hobbyist, forget about this species in your garden. They won't do well in captivity. They are easily stressed in captive, make your life miserable in trying to keep them, and at the end they will still die and cause heart pain to you due to a burned pocket in acquiring them.

This lizard required extremely high humidity. They only found on the first layer of trees along running stream in thick rain forest. They often sit quietly on branches extended over running stream in the morning, basking in thin rays of sunlight that penetrate through gaps of leaves in higher canopy. They will not bask themselves on top of canopy for full sunlight, it is too hot and dry for them, and very expose to preying animals like birds and monkey. They also demanding for trees infected by parasitic plants on its branches, or branches that overgrown by creepers. These are the sites that collect forest debris, an active bio-activity site. A warm and ideal sites for angle head lizard to deposit their eggs.

A male angle head lizard warming up its body and will soon look for his breakfast (insects).


A male angle head lizard in a mating mode. The colour turned reddish at certain parts of the body. Also note the broken sail on its back, the result from fighting with other males. The dominant one wins the mate.


A female angle head lizard that will cause a big fights amongst males during mating seasons.


A video showing the wild angle head lizards, both male and female in their natural habitat.


All the above angle head lizard pictures and video were taken in a rain forest at their natural habitat in Kedah, a northern state of Malaysia.
Hey guys, forget about the idea of keeping them as pet. I know this species sometime is on sale on inter net. They are mostly wild caught from Southeast Asia. Believe me, they won't survive well in your cage no matter what. They will stressed to death once you take them away from their natural habitat. If you insist, you need to "de-stress" them. They need to see the forest and the stream, to hear the running water below them, to feel the humidity, ...... Meaning to say, you need to have the whole tropical rain forest with running streams and all other required natural conditions at home. Can you afford it?