Natural occuring bearded dragon phases (morphs)

[Red Ink AUS]

G'day mates,

I thought I might as well post this here on Janie's request lol.
Anyway Australians do not keep or have all the fancy name morphs you guys have we work by localities on where the dragons are endemically from i.e. their natural surroundings influences their colouration and size for that matter.

There are 4 naturally occurring phases (that’s what we call them) of bearded dragons. This is their base wild colouration. They are yellow, red, orange and grey, each colour phase inhabits a certain part of OZ in the dragon territory(overlaps occur though).

YELLOW DRAGONS
This is what you guys call your citrus (self explanatory really), and what is suspect are the origins of the German giants line. These dragons are endemic in the central mallee region of South Australia going as far as Central Australia. The Mallee region is in northern part of South Australia if that makes sense as South Australia is the state. These dragons are generally bigger than the other phases generally not always. They are also found In eastern Queensland towards the Northern part of Australia (well the colour phase is anyway)

RED DRAGONS
Again pretty self explanatory, they are red phase dragons. Probably the main lines used for the "sandfire morph". They are found in the arid interior of Central Australia, and you could probably guess why they are red as OZ has a "red centre". That’s your classic shot of the Australian outback with the red sands and Uluru. They are also the smallest of the phases. They inhabit the red claypans/deserts that people sometimes see pics of when there's debate on whether OZ is a "desert" lol.

ORANGE DRAGONS
These dragons are found where the two other phases or localities of dragons red and yellow overlap in territory. Now you might think that this is due to red and yellow mixed together makes orange, logical but it’s not as simple as that. It’s not the dragon phases mixing rather the landscape colour that influences the colouration. This phase is harder to find naturally that the red or the yellow. The landscape on the borders of the mallee and central Australia changes from yellow mallee soil to the red clay pans of the centre and in between where the soils mix is a dusty yellow orange.

GREY DRAGONS
This is the normal phase to us and i assume you guys call them the same. They inhabit the dry woodlands on the eastern side of the dragons range. they are Grey as you could imagine dry woodlands is grey as well as the soil. They are the most common phase found in Australia as their territory spans nearly the length of OZ or i should say the dry woodlands rather than a dragon territory.


So now they are the base colours where all the fancy colour morphs of dragons in the states come from with new ones coming up everyday it seems like. The fancier the morph name (OGG hypo trans Cawley red Salmon Italian leatherback Sandfire x Het leucestic pastel American smoothie lavender tiger stripes tangerine citrus, lol can’t possibly fit any more) the higher the price it seems like.

Here in OZ we like to keep it simple red, yellow, orange and grey.
Though some breeders are starting to use the "sandfire" term, no doubt picked up from the US descriptions.

Cheers
;D

 

[crypticdragons]

awesome post. I am sure what happened 40 or so years ago was large groups were taken from each region and brought over to the US and England and selectively bred to the point of where we are today.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Do we as the public know how many pairs/dragons were removed initially to start the other then Oz blood lines ?
Just curious is all.. I know it takes a good 4-5 generations to partially fix a color gene into the bloodlines, but how long does it take to complete a "new" morph as it were ?
Janie.
*Oh wait that's two questions *

 

[crypticdragons]

and thats a question for Gina. She knows more about genetics than i can imagine lol. She makes me know i need to study.

 

[zebraflavencs]

I'll do some of my own research on the second question, I know the information is out there as well as asking Gina, but I know she appreciates those who search then ask
but the First question is I think the most important. If we knew the numbers of how many went where ( rather doubt there is a finite answer there) then we could in essence figure out where the "designer" morphs originated from which stock.
Janie.

 

[crypticdragons]

companies like sapphire dragon ranch and Dachiu and agamid international (basically companies that have been in the game for a long time) might would have more info on that. I am not sure who the first imports went to.

And yeah i need to research genetics cause i hated biology in high school and slept through it lol.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Each to their own, Bri. I was always fascinated by Biology, but growing up as I did basically in a Vet's clinic, I could "see" the effects and causes. I must admit, it was a Unique way to raise a child or 9
Janie

 

[Red Ink AUS]

awesome post. I am sure what happened 40 or so years ago was large groups were taken from each region and brought over to the US and England and selectively bred to the point of where we are today.

That's kind what we where trying to figue out on another thread, but we got a bit side tracked by GGs. Thanks to ladyknite though i think we are a bit closer as she has been in the game for a couple of decades.

companies like sapphire dragon ranch and Dachiu and agamid international (basically companies that have been in the game for a long time) might would have more info on that. I am not sure who the first imports went to.

Short of them going on here and putting their input on the matter i would all fall under speculations. Does anybody have any dealings with these companies maybe people could contact them and get a bit of history from them. I don't know if they would be forth coming with that sort of info though. I might go and check out their sites to see what i can find.

Cheers,