| Dictionary: flying lizard |
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| Animal Encyclopedia: Flying lizard |
Draco volans
SUBFAMILY
Agaminae
TAXONOMY
Draco volans Linnaeus, 1758, Java, Indonesia.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
None known.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
These are slender, long-legged, small lizards with folding ribs that expand to form a winglike structure. At rest, these dermal sails are folded along the body, giving the lizards a slim appearance.
DISTRIBUTION
The species inhabits the Indonesian islands, including Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Timor. They also occur in Thailand, western Malaysia, and the Philippines.
HABITAT
Their habitat is open forests and dense rainforests of both lowlands and highlands.
BEHAVIOR
With their "wings" extended, these long-tailed, lightly built agamids glide gracefully between trees, losing altitude along the way. When gliding, these delicate, slender lizards use their tails to steer and sometimes can travel as far as 55 yd (50 m). Expert hang gliders, they rise up and stall at exactly the right moment to make a gentle landing. Upon landing on an adjacent tree, with the head up, they scamper up the tree, gaining elevation in preparation for their next flight. When on the ground, flying lizards are clumsy and vulnerable to predators.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
The species feeds almost exclusively on ants and termites.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Wings of males and females are of different colors, which allows these lizards to identify the sex of another at a distance. Males defend territories, courting females by extending their brightly colored throat dewlap appendages, much like anoles do in the New World. Females lay one to four eggs. Their unusual eggs are elongated and spindle-shaped, with dense calcium carbonate "caps" at each end. The function of the caps has not been studied, but they could be deposits for developing embryos.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: flying dragon |
| WordNet: flying dragon |
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
any of several small tropical Asian lizards capable of gliding by spreading winglike membranes on each side of the body
Synonyms: dragon, flying lizard
| Wikipedia: The Flying Lizards |
| The Flying Lizards | |
|---|---|
The Flying Lizard's debut album.
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| Background information | |
| Origin | United Kingdom |
| Genres | Experimental rock |
| Years active | 1978-1984 |
| Labels | Virgin, Statik |
| Former members | |
| David Toop Steve Beresford Michael Upton David Cunningham Vivien Goldman Robert Fripp Bob Black Deborah Evans-Stickland Patti Palladin Peter Laurence Gordon Sally Peterson |
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The Flying Lizards were a British experimental rock band, who were formed in 1978 in London, England.[1] They are best remembered as New wave one-hit wonders, thanks to their deliberately eccentric cover of Barrett Strong's "Money", which became a surprise UK and US chart success in 1979.[1][2][3]
Contents |
Formed by and led by record producer David Cunningham, the group was a loose collective of avant-garde and free improvising musicians, such as David Toop and Steve Beresford as instrumentalists, plus Deborah Evans-Strickland, Patti Palladin, and Vivien Goldman as main vocalists. It also boasted the painter, Michael Upton.
Cunningham's recording contract with Virgin Records was for only two singles, but when "Money" started to climb the charts, they signed him to a new contract.[1] The group released their debut album, The Flying Lizards late in 1979. The album included two songs - "HerStory" and "The Window" - written and sung by Goldman.[4] Their single issues included their postmodern cover versions of songs such as Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" and "Money".[5]
The album sold enough copies to justify Virgin financing another Flying Lizards album, but 1981's Fourth Wall put its focus on the eclectic experimentalism of Cunningham's music. Despite the presence of another mangled cover of a pop standard (Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up") the album was a commercial disappointment though it received strong reviews.[1]
Their 1984 album Top Ten consisted entirely of covers, done in a deliberately emotionless, harsh and robotic style, including James Brown's "Sex Machine", and Leonard Cohen's, "Suzanne". By this time, Cunningham was devoting much of his time to producing other artists (including This Heat and Wayne County). After releasing 1984's Top Ten, which combined Cunningham's eccentric take on pop with electronic textures and the vocals of Sally Peterson, Cunningham retired the Flying Lizards.[1]
Their version of Barrett Strong's "Money" remained popular, and was used in the film soundtracks for The Wedding Singer, Empire Records, Charlie's Angels and Lord of War, as well as in the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning American television medical drama, Nip/Tuck.
An album of dub instrumentals, The Secret Dub Life of the Flying Lizards, recorded by David Cunningham mostly in 1978 was finally released in 1995.[1]
With only one single making the UK Top 40,[2] the Flying Lizards join the list of one-hit wonders; a list that includes other UK punk or new wave acts such as The Banned, John Cooper Clarke, Jilted John, 999, Radio Stars, Rich Kids and The Vibrators.
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![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Animal Encyclopedia. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Copyright © 2005 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more | |
![]() | WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. Read more | |
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