Deserted

Welcome to my second Action Project blog for Population class. In this unit, we studied how species thrive in their natural habitats and how their special traits allow them to do so. A Field Experience to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum taught us about many different landscapes and the animals that live in them. The purpose of this AP was to discover if a certain species or organism could survive in a habitat different from it's own. The species I chose to study was the Chinese Water Dragon, also known by it's scientific name Physignathus cocincinus. I, hypothetically, altered the Chinese Water Dragon's tropical Asian climate by drying it out. I made inferences about how this change would impact the species and how it would survive in this new climate.

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Chinese Water Dragons are beautiful green lizards reminiscent iguanas, only smaller. They originate from the tropical environments of Asia, but can also be found at nearby pet stores around the world. Chinese Water Dragons require water, warmth, humidity, and sunlight. They also like to feed off of smaller insects and rodents, like crickets and mice. What if this humid, tropical climate were to suddenly dry out? Water and humidity would be less common for the Chinese Water Dragon to soak in. Small insects and rodents they eat would likely retreat underground due to extensive heat. The trees these arboreal lizards climb would start to die due to lack of water. This would affect the Chinese Water Dragon's mobility, strength, and agility. This would make it more difficult from them to escape their predators. On the other hand, there are also opportunities for the Chinese Water Dragon to survive in this environment. For starters, they would have access to more UVB/sunlight. They would adapt hide from the heat by seeking shade instead of water - they would live under shrubs and large leaf plants. Luckily, these spaces are rich with lizard prey - insects and small rodents. They could also try digging holes to reach their prey and possibly water.

Here are some pictures to help further describe to what the Chinese Water Dragons are like.

“Barry”
“The Asian Water Dragon.” Angelfire: Welcome to Angelfire, www.angelfire.com/wizard/coicwebdesign/page1.html.

“The Quadruplets”
Chermel, Ryan. “Chinese Water Dragon Care And Information.” Reptiles Magazine, www.reptilesmagazine.com/Chinese-Water-Dragon-Care-And-Information/.

“The Quintuplets”
Lawson, Helen. “One for the Album: Baby Chinese Water Dragons Line up for Their Family Portraits.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 1 May 2013, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2317731/One-album-Baby-Chinese-water-dragons-line-family-portraits.html.

“Rocky”
“Free Photo Chinese Water Dragon Water Lizard Animal Dragon - Max Pixel.” Free Photo Can Skills Start Up Business Foundation Startup - Max Pixel, www.maxpixel.net/Chinese-Water-Dragon-Water-Lizard-Animal-Dragon-1545390.

“Happy”
McLeod, Lianne. “How Do You Care for a Pet Chinese Water Dragon?” The Spruce Pets, TheSprucePets, 22 Mar. 2018, www.thesprucepets.com/chinese-water-dragons-1239191.

“Rick”
“Precautions You Need to Keep in Mind When Feeding Your Chinese Water Dragon.” Chinese Water Dragon Care, 30 Oct. 2015, www.chinesewaterdragon.net/precautions-when-feeding-chinese-water-dragon/.

“Bobby”
Anthony. “Chinese Water Dragon, Male, Chinese.” Pixabay, pixabay.com/en/chinese-water-dragon-male-chinese-2044695/.

“Chief Red-Chin” (also the big one)
Boyle, Darren. “Game of Thrones Fan Breeds Chinese Water DRAGONS.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 30 Aug. 2016, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3765117/Game-Thrones-fan-breeds-Chinese-Water-DRAGONS-lizards-don-t-breathe-fire.html.

“Lizzie” (the big one)
Boyle, Darren. “Game of Thrones Fan Breeds Chinese Water DRAGONS.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 30 Aug. 2016, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3765117/Game-Thrones-fan-breeds-Chinese-Water-DRAGONS-lizards-don-t-breathe-fire.html.

Did you enjoy the images? Well guess what, we are now going to discuss which three are capable of surviving in this dried up tropical wasteland.

"Bobby"

Bobby is the biggest Chinese Water Dragon on this list. That might also mean he is the strongest on this list too.

"Lizzie"

Lizzie is the only female adult Chinese Water Dragon on this list. I know that because the females have narrower skulls than the males, and the colors under their chins are faded out. The females are very fast and thin. Lizzie is possibly the fastest Chinese Water Dragon on this list.

"Chief Red-Chin"

Chief Red-Chin has a very big tail. The reason why that is important is because the tail is part of one of the Chinese Water Dragon’s main self-defense moves. His huge tail can stun a predator for a tiny bit longer once he quickly turns around and runs away.

I compared the Chinese Water Dragon to a living and extinct relative. I not only compared them to each other, I also explained their differences. Dead doesn’t count as a difference for the extinct relative.

Living Relative: Australian Water Dragon
“Free Stock Photo of Animal, Australian Water Dragon, Iguana.” Free Stock Photos, www.pexels.com/photo/animal-australian-water-dragon-iguana-intellagama-lesueurii-314814/.

The Australian Water Dragon is a cousin to the Chinese Water Dragon. The only significant differences between them are their colors, and the Australian Water Dragon does not have a third eye that absorbs sunlight like the Chinese Water Dragon.

SIMILARITIES 
Spines on back 
Striped scale pattern
Black lines behind eyes
Long tail
Body shape

DIFFERENCES
CWD has a colorful chin
AWD's belly is orange / CWD's belly is white
AWD does not have a third eye
CWD swims 
AWD eats smaller reptiles

Extinct Relative: Mimeosaurus

“WikiVisually.com.” WikiVisually, wikivisually.com/wiki/Mimeosaurus.

I had a hard time finding extensive information about this species. The Mimeosaurus is an extinct genus of iguanian lizard from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. It is part of an extinct family of iguanas called Priscagamidae, and was the first priscagamid to have been described, having been named by American paleontologist Charles W. Gilmore in 1943. (Revolvy)

SIMILARITIES
Scales
From Asia
Long to Moderately Long Tail
Cold Blooded

DIFFERENCES
Mimeosaurus had two pairs of large canine-like teeth
Mimeosaurus had a smaller, more narrow head
Mimeosaurus had no spine-y dorsal *sail* or ridge
Mimeosaurus had a wider, flatter midsection

What you are seeing below is the central tendency and standard deviation for the length of a Chinese Water Dragon in inches made by me. Central Tendencies show the Mean, Median, Mode, Minimum, Maximum, Range, Q1 (first quartile), Q3 (third quartile), and IQR (interquartile range). Standard deviation (the second image) is a type of equation used to measure variations in sets of data values. The numbers on that number line are length measurements of the Chinese Water Dragon from hatchling to adult.



Finally, I made a equation to show you the number of ways I could have picked three out of nine Chinese Water Dragons from earlier. This is called permutation and combination. A permutation is a group of items, in this case numbers, where the order does matter. A combination is a group of numbers where the order does not matter. There is no way I could have picked three out of nine Chinese Water Dragons in order, so the combination equation is what I want to use for this situation. However, I want to show you a permutation equation so I made one to give you the sense of what a permutation equation is.



CITATIONS

Anthony. “Chinese Water Dragon, Male, Chinese.” Pixabay, pixabay.com/en/chinese-water-dragon-male-chinese-2044695/.

Boyle, Darren. “Game of Thrones Fan Breeds Chinese Water DRAGONS.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 30 Aug. 2016, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3765117/Game-Thrones-fan-breeds-Chinese-Water-DRAGONS-lizards-don-t-breathe-fire.html.

Chermel, Ryan. “Chinese Water Dragon Care And Information.” Reptiles Magazine, www.reptilesmagazine.com/Chinese-Water-Dragon-Care-And-Information/.

“Free Photo Chinese Water Dragon Water Lizard Animal Dragon - Max Pixel.” Free Photo Can Skills Start Up Business Foundation Startup - Max Pixel, www.maxpixel.net/Chinese-Water-Dragon-Water-Lizard-Animal-Dragon-1545390.

Lawson, Helen. “One for the Album: Baby Chinese Water Dragons Line up for Their Family Portraits.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 1 May 2013, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2317731/One-album-Baby-Chinese-water-dragons-line-family-portraits.html.

McLeod, Lianne. “How Do You Care for a Pet Chinese Water Dragon?” The Spruce Pets, TheSprucePets, 22 Mar. 2018, www.thesprucepets.com/chinese-water-dragons-1239191.

“Precautions You Need to Keep in Mind When Feeding Your Chinese Water Dragon.” Chinese Water Dragon Care, 30 Oct. 2015, www.chinesewaterdragon.net/precautions-when-feeding-chinese-water-dragon/.

“The Asian Water Dragon.” Angelfire: Welcome to Angelfire, www.angelfire.com/wizard/coicwebdesign/page1.html.

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