Intellagama lesueuriiGray, 1831

Eastern Water Dragon

Photograph by Sofia Zvolanek, CC BY, via iNaturalist

A day-active, omnivorous lizard from the Australo-Pacific region, reaching 289 mm snout to vent.

Also called Australian Water Dragon.

Once published as Istiurus lesueurii, Physignathus lesueurii — those names reach this page.

Reptilia › Squamata › Agamidae › Intellagama

Grows to: 289mm; greatest recorded
Eats: Omnivorous
Active: Diurnal
Lives up to: 28years

Body length across Agamidae

Longer than 98% of all agamids anyone has measured.

98% of 583 species are smaller2% larger

32 mmthe whole family, smallest to largest418 mm

The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 32 to 418 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.

What is known

44 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.

Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.

Standing in the world

Still living: Extant
Conservation status: Least Concern
Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked: 2017
Population trend: Stable

The animal itself

Limbs: Four legs
Venomous: No
Fangs: None
Longest recorded life: 28years
Body temperature when active · measured in the wild: 29.4°C85 °F
Body temp in the wild · mean, when active: 29.4°C

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded: 289mm11.5 in
Length snout to vent · adult female mean: 209.7mm8.25 in
Largest female · snout to vent: 209.7mm8.25 in
Hatchling length · snout to vent: 47mm1.75 in
Largest juvenile · snout to vent: 47mm1.75 in
Body mass · greatestcomputed: 901.8g2 lb
Body mass · adult female, meanmeasured: 240.3g8.5 oz
Body mass at hatchingmeasured: 3.6g0.13 oz

How it lives

Diet: Omnivorous
How it hunts: Active foraging
Active: Diurnal
Where it lives: Semi-aquatic
Habitat: Forest
Biome: Temperate Broadleaf & Mixed Forests
Region: Australo-Pacific
Mainland or island: Mainland
Elevation · above sea level: 40–1190m
Range size: 834,291km²
Density: 0.06–0.06per hectare

Breeding

Reproduction: Oviparous
Sex decided by: Temperature
Average clutch: 9.68eggs
Eggs or young per clutch: 3–24eggs
Mean clutch: 7.2–12eggs
Clutches in a year: 1.5per year
Clutches a year: 0.75–4per year
First breeds at: 12–60months

Naming and history

Suborder: Sauria
Infraorder: Acrodontia
Subspecies: Intellagama lesueurii howittii (MCCOY 1884) Intellagama lesueurii lesueurii (GRAY 1831)
Described by: Gray
Moved to another genus · since it was first described: Yes
Described in: 1831
Type locality: Australia

Keeping one

3 ft 10 in × 3 ft 10 in × 2 ft 4 in(116 × 116 × 72 cm)

Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.

The standard sizes ground-dwelling species at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times snout-vent length.

Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.

From this animal’s own snout-vent length of 11.5 in (289 mm), at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.

Active animals measured in the wild averaged 85 °F (29.4 °C).

Mean body temperature of active individuals measured in nature. A measurement of the animal, not a setting for a thermostat.

Feeding

A prey item should be no wider than the space between the animal's eyes.

Widely used across reptile husbandry references. The stated reason is that the gap approximates the width of the throat, so wider prey is associated with impaction. This is established practice, not a measurement.

83kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 902 g, the heaviest recorded for Eastern Water Dragon — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.

An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.

What nobody knows

These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.

— Length snout to vent · adult male mean
— Length snout to vent · adult mean
— Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
— Female length · mean, nose to tail
— Length nose to tail · adult male mean
— Length nose to tail · adult mean
— Largest male · snout to vent
— Largest female · shell length
— Largest male · shell length
— Hatchling length · nose to tail
— Largest juvenile · shell length
— Egg length
— Egg width
— Body mass · a typical adult
— Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
— Eats arthropods
— Eats vertebrates
— Eats plant matter
— How the young develop
— Gestation or incubation
— Hatchling length · smallest recorded
— Hatchling length · largest recorded
— Age at first breeding · female
— Mature from · youngest recorded
— Mature by · oldest recorded
— Size at maturity · smallest recorded
— Size at maturity · largest recorded
— Colour on the back
— Pattern on the back
— Pupil
— Red List criteria
— Active season · shortest recorded
— Active season · longest recorded
— Home range · largest recorded
— Active in

Others in Agamidae

Take this data

Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.

This species as JSON · the whole dataset

Cite this page

The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Intellagama lesueurii. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/intellagama-lesueurii

@misc{intellagama_lesueurii_2026,
  title  = {Intellagama lesueurii},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/intellagama-lesueurii}
}

Sources

Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.