Lizard Attack! Photographer Gets Chased Away by Fierce Mini-Dino [Video]

Wild animals will be wild. A wildlife photographer was reminded of this when he ended up getting attacked in his attempt to help out a Jurassic Park-like critter on the road.

According to a report from IFLScience, photographer Ricky Mackenzie was exploring the Australian outback in when he encountered a strange creature. Roughly 62 miles northwest of Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia, he came across the frilled-neck lizard and tried to help the animal move to a safer area off the road.

It didn't work out quite like the 18-year-old photographer planned. Instead of willingly accepting his help, the frilled-neck lizard turned on him and chased him down the road. In the video that became viral in the past few days, Mckenzie's lizard encounter was quite scary as he ran from the animal chuckling. The small but fearsome creature soon caught up to him and climbed up his body.

"I see a lot of frillies," Mckenzie said in the IFLScience report. "I didn't want this one to get run over. I tried to help but he didn't want a bar of it."

Although feisty, the frilled-neck lizard is tiny, only growing to about 45 to 90 centimeters in length, according to Reptile Park. Two-thirds of their entire length is composed of their long tail. Still, the creature can be very fearsome with a gaping yellow mouth and a wide extendible frill that fans across their neck and throat. Even hatchlings know how to scare off threats with their frill and mouth.

This lizard can run away quickly from danger, often climbing up trees to escape. The species is also equipped with two sharp teeth in the lower jaw.

Frilled-neck lizards - or "frillies" as Mckenzie called them - live in dry woodlands. Their known habitats include northwestern and northern Australia and Papua New Guinea.