Referring to the Komodo dragon, we can immediately think of Indonesia,
the Muslim-majority country.
Proud to own this unique animal,
as the host of the 26th Sea Games,
Indonesia chose the Komodo dragon
as the mascot for the largest sports festival in Southeast Asia.
So what is so special about this dragon, let's explore it!
Komodo dragons or Komodo monitors, are the largest, heaviest lizards in the world.
The name comes from rumors that a dragon like creature
lived on the Indonesian island of Komodo.
Appearance
In the wild, adult Komodo dragons usually weigh around 70 kg,
although captive specimens often weigh more.
According to Guinness World Records,
an average adult male will weigh 79 to 91 kg and measure 2.59 m,
while an average female will weigh 68 to 73 kg and measure 2.29 m.
The largest verified wild specimen was 3.13 m long and weighed 166 kg,
including its undigested food.
The Komodo dragon has a tail as long as its body, as well as about 60 frequently replaced,
serrated teeth that can measure up to 2.5 cm in length.
Its saliva is frequently blood tinged
because its teeth are almost completely covered by gingival tissue that is naturally lacerated
during feeding.
It also has a long, yellow, deeply forked tongue.
Komodo dragon skin is reinforced by armoured scales,
which contain tiny bones called osteoderms that function as a sort of natural chain-mail.
Diet
Komodo dragons are carnivores, meaning they eat meat.
They are such fierce hunters that they can eat very large prey,
such as large water buffalo, deer, carrion, pigs, and even humans.
They also eat smaller dragons. They can eat 80 percent of their body weight in one feeding.
The Komodo has a unique way of killing its prey.
First, it springs up and knocks the prey over with its huge feet.
Then they use their sharp,
serrated teeth which are a lot like a shark’s to shred their prey to death.
Reproduction & Life expectancy
Mating occurs between May and August.
Female Komodos lay their eggs from August to September
and may use several types of locality; in one study,
60% laid their eggs in the nests of orange-footed scrubfowl (a moundbuilder or megapode),
20% on ground level and 20% in hilly areas.
The females make many camouflage nests/holes
to prevent other dragons from eating the eggs.
Clutches contain an average of 20 eggs, which have an incubation period of 7–8 months.
Hatching is an exhausting effort for the neonates,
which break out of their eggshells with an egg tooth that falls off before long.
After cutting themselves out,
the hatchlings may lie in their eggshells for hours before starting to dig out of the nest.
They are born quite defenseless and are vulnerable to predation.
Young Komodo dragons spend much of their first few years in trees,
where they are relatively safe from predators, including cannibalistic adults,
as juvenile dragons make up 10% of their diets.
The habit of cannibalism may be advantageous in sustaining the large size of adults,
as medium-sized prey on the islands is rare.
When the young approach a kill, they roll around in faecal matter
and rest in the intestines of eviscerated animals to deter these hungry adults.
Komodo dragons take approximately 8 to 9 years to mature, and may live for up to 30 years.
Behavior and ecology
The Komodo dragon prefers hot and dry places and typically lives in dry,
open grassland, savanna, and tropical forest at low elevations.
As an ectotherm, it is most active in the day, although it exhibits some nocturnal activity.
Komodo dragons are solitary, coming together only to breed and eat.
They are capable of running rapidly in brief sprints up to 20 km/h,
diving up to 4.5 m, and climbing trees proficiently when young through use of their strong claws.
To catch out-of-reach prey,
the Komodo dragon may stand on its hind legs and use its tail as a support.
As it matures, its claws are used primarily as weapons,
as its great size makes climbing impractical.
For shelter, the Komodo dragon digs holes that can measure from 1 to 3 m wide
with its powerful forelimbs and claws.
Because of its large size and habit of sleeping in these burrows,
it is able to conserve body heat throughout the night
and minimise its basking period the morning after.
The Komodo dragon hunts in the afternoon,
but stays in the shade during the hottest part of the day.
These special resting places, usually located on ridges with cool sea breezes,
are marked with droppings and are cleared of vegetation.
They serve as strategic locations from which to ambush deer.
Habitat
Komodos are very rare and are found in the wild only on five islands,
the Komodo Islands, Rinca, Gili Motang, Padar and the island of Flores,
where they roam freely.
The lizard’s habitat can be anything
from a tropical dry forest to a savanna to a deciduous monsoon forest.
Conservation
The Komodo dragon is classified by the IUCN as a vulnerable species
and is listed on the IUCN Red List.
The species' sensitivity to natural
and man-made threats has long been recognized by conservationists,
zoological societies, and the Indonesian government.
Komodo National Park was founded in 1980 to protect Komodo dragon populations on islands
including Komodo, Rinca, and Padar.
Later, the Wae Wuul and Wolo Tado Reserves were opened on Flores
to aid Komodo dragon conservation.
Facts about komodo dragon
Once creatures that inspired myths and folklore,
little was actually known about the world’s largest lizards: Indonesia’s Komodo dragons.
Endemic to Komodo Island in East Nusa Tenggara,
these ancient beasts have always instilled as much fear as they have scientific intrigue.
It has only been in the recent past that we have dispelled certain myths
and learned the truth about Komodo dragons.
And, as it turns out, the truth is often stranger than any fiction we can come up with.
Komodo dragons are actually venomous
While their deadly and unique toxins had erroneously been attributed to their saliva,
a 2009 study found that Komodo dragons excrete venom through ducts in their mouth
into the wounds they have created in their preys’ flesh.
Although their victims might get away, the venom slowly and painfully paralyzes
kills them over a day’s time at most.
Komodos “hunt” using their tongues
Their taste buds are so immaculately evolved that Komodo dragons can taste the air
and differentiate between the particles left behind by different animals.
While their eyesight and olfactory senses are quite poor,
their split, forked tongues can track down their dying victims
or carrion over distances of up to 9 km away.
Cannibalism is normal
Not only are they cannibalistic, but Komodos are known for eating their own offspring.
After the eggs hatch, baby Komodos instinctively climb high up in any trees
to avoid being eaten by their mothers or other nearby Komodos.
They can remain up in the trees until they are four years old,
when they return to the ground and can then live up to 30 years old.
Komodos are grave robbers
As avid scavengers, Komodo dragons have been known to dig up human graves
and feast on the rotting carcasses.
In order to protect the deceased,
locals cover the graves of their loved ones with rocks to avoid Komodo tomb raiders.
They swallow goats
With a massive appetite for meat,
Komodos are entirely carnivorous and can eat up to 80% of their bodyweight.
They have been recorded swallowing entire goats in one sitting,
ramming the carcass up against a tree to aid in swallowing their food.
Despite their size and appetite, however,
the metabolism of Komodo dragons is very slow.
This allows them to subsist on as little as 12 meals per year,
albeit quite large meals at that.
Komodos are avid swimmers
Not only can they climb and run rather fast (almost as fast as humans),
Komodos have also added the ability to swim to their predatory repertoire.
While in search of food or partners,
Komodos can easily swim around the islands of East Nusa Tenggara,
mainly those of Komodo, Flores, Rinca, Padar, and Gili Motang.
No carcass is safe around a komodo dragon.
Snakes and many lizards have forked tongues to pick up microscopic, airborne taste particles.
After being exposed to air, the tongue gets retracted
and its prongs are inserted into the animal’s Jacobson’s organ (located on the roof of its mouth).
This enables the reptile to identify whatever flavors it’s just picked up,
which allows Komodo dragons to start tasting a scrumptious carrion dinner
from more than two miles away.
Komodo dragons have killed at least four people in the last five decades.
Mortal encounters between Komodo dragons and humans were documented in 1974,
2000, 2007, and 2009.
The 2009 attack involved a man who fell from an apple tree
and was mauled by two dragons while lying dazed on the ground.
As a general rule, Komodo dragons prefer raiding graves to killing people.
Female komodo dragons can reproduce without having sex.
Wannabe Komodo dragon moms needn’t wait around for a male to help them.
On multiple occasions,
captive females have laid eggs that produced healthy babies despite not copulating first.
In fact, one mother
had never even shared an enclosure with a member of the opposite sex before.
Here’s how it works: When no males are around, female Komodo dragons
like certain other lizards—may practice something called parthenogenesis.
Basically, this means that, in lieu of sperm, certain egg cells can fertilize each other.
That's all for today,
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