Draco volans

Common kite with partially spread- flight skin

The common kite ( Draco volans L. ) is a small Agame from the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, which is there used in Indo-China, Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan. Occasionally, they are also found in secondary forests and plantations.

Features

The kites are 20 inches long, which makes up the thin tail more than half. Males have a flat back comb, and a large, orange -throated fold, which is blue and smaller in females. The ribs of free -based, orange and black striped flank skin allows the animals to glide between trees. It will spread even when threatening behavior.

Way of life

The common kite keeps himself to trees at heights of one to 20 meters and is only to lay their eggs on the ground. It feeds mainly on arboreal ants. His glides have an average width of 20 to 30 meters, while the loss of height is 5-8 meters. The maximum length should be 60 meters. The glide is stabilized by rotation of the tail. By tail movements and a change in the flight skin position and the control of aiming and dodging obstacles is possible.

Reproduction

Kites lay their eggs in the ground. In Tierpark Berlin you just took from a dead kite females three eggs. The newly hatched juveniles had a head-body length of 2.5 to 2.6 and a tail length from 4 to 4.2 inches. They were bark- colored, had a brownish-black head and curled tails. A rearing did not succeed. All previously captive kites died after a short time.