its hind legs making use of specially adapted musculature at the base of the tail before spreading the patagium. During the heat of the day in summer it rests in the cooler canopy and becomes active again in the late afternoon. During cooler weather, it basks. Males chase females and court them with ritualized moves. The male mounts the female and bites the nape during copulation. Males intimidate intruding males by expanding and folding their patagium and making conspicuous movements. This lizard is almost entirely arboreal. Females descend to the ground to lay eggs in soil during the monsoons. About four eggs are laid which hatch after fifty days or so. In a population estimate made in an areca plantation in the Western Ghats, the density was found to be about 13 per hectare. The population density was much lower, less than 2 per hectare, at Valparai which is at a higher altitude. The southern flying lizard has many predators including arboreal snakes and birds. Two species of bird that have been observed to feed on them include the Indian golden oriole and the black-capped kingfisher. Lion-tailed macaques have been noted to feed on them as well. In fiction Draco dussumieri features prominently in a fictional work or novel named Carvalho (ಕರ್ವಾಲೊ) in Kannada written by Poornachandra Tejaswi. In this story, Carvalho (ಕರ್ವಾಲೊ), a middle-aged scientist searches for this flying lizard in the forests of the Western Ghats in the state of Karnataka India. References External links Further reading Das I (2002). A Photographic Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of India. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 144 pp. . (Draco dussumieri, p. 75). dussumieri Endemic fauna of India Reptiles of India Taxa named by André Marie Constant Duméril Taxa named by Gabriel Bibron Reptiles described in 1837