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On the island of Komodo, a tiny microcosm in the sea
seperating the Flores from the Indian Ocean,
an unusual creature of myth and legend still roams the land.
The Komodo Dragon, known as the Ora by locals,
is the world’s largest lizard and it’s razor sharp
teeth can rip and swallow the hindquarters of a deer in seconds.
It is around eight feet long, weighs 45 Kgs and can run at
speeds of up to 15 mph but it hunts relying on stealth, preying
on deer, boar, goat or other large mammals. It was feared
these throwbacks from another age were facing extinction,
but the money earned from the grizzly spectacle of watching
the lizards feed has helped to ensure their survival.
Habits
A Komodo's would never make a great violinist as its hearing
is terrible, but its amphibian eyes can see up to ¼
of a mile away. Its large yellow forked tongue can break down
and analyse odours in the air, and they can sense a deer up
to three miles away. Its feet sound like a "muffled machine
gun" according to some experts, which alert their prey
seconds before making the final kill. After gnawing down a
deer or two, the smelly dragon keeps bits of meat in its teeth
which are highly septic, not to mention disgusting! When there's
nothing else to eat they often go for each other, the larger
dragons eating babies or young Komodo so they're not the nicest
of dinner guests.
When they're trying to attract the ladies, the male Komodo
will wrestle his competitors and draw blood before flicking
his long tongue all over her snout and body, giving her a
good old lick down. Four months later in the Autumn, she lays
her eggs and the baby dragons are just over a foot in length,
a little larger than a human baby.
They are often thought of as the last remaining descendants
of the dinosaurs, although this is not strictly true
as they are common ancestors of the Diapsida (two arched
reptile) who roamed the earth some 300 million years ago.
Watch out!
Komodos are headstrong predators and are known to be vicious;
recently Sharon Stone’s husband Phil Bronstein
was attacked by a dragon in the Los Angeles Zoo. His fantasy
of meeting a Komodo dragon close up ended in tears when it
attacked his foot for its first course.
The western world first discovered the Komodo in 1910 when
a Dutch colonialist heard stories of this strange "land
crocodile". Shortly afterwards, the Komodo became a protected
species and has been a source of fascination and much tourism
for the island. Sadly, there are only a few thousand Komodos
left on the island as they are dying out through poaching
(dragons are reported as being worth up to $30,000 on the
black market). Komodo island is now a popular eco-tourist
attraction, unfortunately, public interest in the dragon causes
disruption to the land and mating which means they are still
struggling to survive.
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