Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It has bright, shiny scales and loves to play in the sunlight.

And look! It’s grown a forked spade at the end of its tail and long, tufted whiskers! It must be close to maturing.

Young dragons are relatively defenseless. They are born with relatively soft scales, which are shed and replaced with harder ones as the hatchling matures. Once a hatchling’s wings grow in, it typically marks the beginning of maturation. At this point they are often capable of hunting on their own and are usually left alone by their mother.

This hatchling is still learning how to maneuver with his long whiskers and tail spade. Although he seems clumsy, he is actually doing very well at learning how to leap without getting tangled up on himself.

His favorite foods are tamarinds, onions, and rabbits.