In the wild, Bearded Dragons are originally from Australia, however, there are different species in different parts of the country.
There are a total of 9 types of Bearded Dragon, they all originate from Australia and are all part of the same family. The Pogona Vittikins is a crossbreed that naturally occurs between the Vitticeps and Lawsons/ Brevis Bearded Dragons.
Since the 1960s the export of Bearded Dragons outside of Australia became illegal. This means that all beardies found outside of Australia are captive bred and descend probably from dragons that were illegally exported. It also means that the genetic diversity may be limited in the captive-bred population.
There were rumors that most dragons in the US were bred from stock in Germany (Illegally exported from Australia) back in the 1980s. The Bearded Dragon has since gone on to be one of the staples of the exotic pet trade and is now commonly found in most pet stores – however, it’s not always legal to sell Bearded Dragons, different states, countries, provinces etc… have different rules and licenses for different species.
Bearded Dragons are found in the wild in a variety of habitats that are difficult to reproduce in the confines of a vivarium. They are semi-arboreal meaning they like to climb, they live in scrubland, desert, rocky areas, coasts, woodlands and this depends upon the specific location. Different species will have slight differences in tolerance of environmental factors such as UVB, humidity, and temperature but are all within a common range to the Pogona family.
Credit : My Beardies
Picture Credit : Google
