{"topic_id":"exotic_pet_profile_bearded_dragon","category":"exotic-pet-profile","context":"---\ntopic_id: exotic_pet_profile_bearded_dragon\ncategory: exotic-pet-profile\ntitle: \"Bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps) — species profile (taxonomy, geographic range, habitat, physical description, behavior, wild diet, reproduction, lifespan)\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"Animal Diversity Web (animaldiversity.org, University of Michigan) — species account Pogona vitticeps\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/exotic-profile-2026/bearded_dragon.txt\ndate_parsed: 2026-07-28\ntokens_estimated: 0\nverified: true\nverification: c1_substring\nsource_document: \"Animal Diversity Web species account (Pogona vitticeps)\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Animal Diversity Web (animaldiversity.org, University of Michigan)\"\n  title: \"Bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps) — species profile (taxonomy, origin, lifespan, husbandry basics)\"\n  url: \"https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Pogona_vitticeps/\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-07-28\"\n  ref: \"ADW species account Pogona vitticeps\"\n  doc_type: \"expert species account (.edu, compiled from primary literature)\"\n  needs_review: false\nauthority_tier: T3\nauthority_tier_basis: \"T3:expert-db\"\nauthority_tier_date: 2026-08-04\n---\n\n# Bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps) — species profile (taxonomy, geographic range, habitat, physical description, behavior, wild diet, reproduction, lifespan)\nAuthoritative first-hand species account (Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan). All bullet facts are verbatim from the cited source and C1-substring verified.\n\n## Geographic Range\n- Pogona vitticeps has a wide natural distribution in eastern and central Australia.\n- They are found from the eastern half of south Australia to the southeastern Northern Territory (Grenard 1999).\n\n## Habitat\n- Pogona vitticeps occupies a large range of habitats from the desert to dry forests and scrublands.\n- It is a semiarboreal lizard that can be found basking on fallen branches, fence posts and picnic tables (Grenard 1999).\n\n## Physical Description\n- Inland Bearded Dragons are 13 to 24 inches long, including the tail.\n- They are appropriately named bearded dragons because of their \"beard,\" an expandable throat pouch with spikey scales.\n- They have a broad, triangular head, round bodies, stout legs, and robust tails.\n- Color for this species depends on the soil of the region they live in, ranging from dull brown to tan with red or gold highlights (Tosney 1996).\n\n## Behavior\n- The beard of Pogona vitticeps is used for both mating and agression displays.\n- Both sexes have a beard, but males display more frequently, especially for courtship rituals.\n- Females will, however, display their beard as a sign of aggression also.\n- The beard turns dark to jet black and inflates during the display.\n- The bearded dragon may also open its mouth and gape in addition to inflating its beard to appear more intimidating.\n\n## Food Habits (Wild Diet)\n- Pogona vitticeps are opportunistic omnivores.\n- They live in areas where food may be hard to find, so bearded dragons are not finicky eaters.\n- Their stomachs are large to accommodate large quantities of plant matter, insects, and the occasional small rodent or lizard (Grenard 1999).\n\n## Reproduction\n- Inland Bearded dragons reach sexual maturity at 1 to 2 years of age.\n- Mating occurs in the Australian spring and summer months of September to March.\n- However, captive indoor dragons do not seem to be seasonal and can breed year round (Grenard 1999).\n- Females dig a burrow and lay up to 24 eggs per clutch, and up to 9 clutches per year.\n\n## Conservation Status\n- IUCN Red List [Link] Not Evaluated CITES No special status Other Comments Since the 1960's, Australia has strictly prohibited exports of any native wildlife.\n- It is believed that the \"founder stock\" of captive bred bearded dragons found outside of Australia today were smuggled out of the country between 1974 and 1990 (Grenard 1999).\n- Pogona vitticeps is the most commonly found captive bred bearded dragon species.\n","sources":["exotic-pet-profile — Bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps) — species profile (taxonomy, origin, lifespan, husbandry basics) (retrieved 2026-07-28)"],"source":{"authority":"exotic-pet-profile","title":"Bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps) — species profile (taxonomy, origin, lifespan, husbandry basics)","url":"https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Pogona_vitticeps/","retrieved":"2026-07-28","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Animal Diversity Web species account (Pogona vitticeps)","verification_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-profile-2026/bearded_dragon.txt"},"source_document":"Animal Diversity Web species account (Pogona vitticeps)","source_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-profile-2026/bearded_dragon.txt","trust":{"authority_tier":"T3","fidelity":"verbatim","license":null,"display_grade":"B"},"tokens_estimated":737,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}