From The Hobbit
to Game of Thrones,
dragons have long been a part of our lore.
But some dragons don't live in fairy tales.
They live on an island in Indonesia.
And though they don't breathe fire,
they're just as deadly as their mythical counterparts.
Say hello to my little friend.
Or rather, my huge, venomous friend.
This is the mighty Komodo dragon.
It's the largest, heaviest and most deadly
lizard in the world.
Komodo dragons are indigenous
to the Indonesian archipelago,
which consists of about 17,000 islands.
But you can only find these dragons
on Komodo, Rinca, Gili Motang and Gili Dasami,
four islands in the Komodo National Park.
They can thrive in a tropical savanna forest
or beach climate and seldom explore
too far beyond where they hatched.
When fully grown, these reptilian beasts
weigh up to 136 kg (300 lb)
and grow as long as 3 m (10 ft).
It's easy to see why early European explorers
mistook them for crocodiles,
but they are actually a type of monitor lizard.
Although they aren't just any ol' monitor lizard.
Komodo dragons are one-of-a-kind
because of their enormous size
and their deadly venom.
Don't piss these guys off.
For decades,
scientists suspected that the Komodo dragon's
bite was deadly
because of the 50 strains of bacteria in its saliva.
This was challenged in 2009
by biochemist and microbiologist
Bryan Fry of the University of Queensland.
He proposed that Komodo dragons
have glands in their jaws
that produce a toxin that lowers blood pressure.
And it causes extreme hemorrhaging
as the venom prevents the prey's blood from clotting.
The lizards' serrated teeth
create gaping wounds in their prey,
often causing the animal to bleed out.
And these dragons
don't mind if their victims don't die right away.
With their highly attuned forked tongues
and sensory organs,
Komodos can track their prey for days.
And they can detect
carrion from up to 10 km (6.2 mi) away.
Komodo dragons also have keen vision
and can see up to 300 m (985 ft).
And while they are sprinters that can run
up to 20 km/h (13 mph),
they prefer to hunt by stealth,
waiting for hours to ambush prey that crosses their path.
When it comes to eating,
dragons aren't picky.
They are not only scavengers and hunters,
but also cannibals,
eating smaller dragons when necessary.
Because of their sharp senses
and reputation as opportunistic eaters,
local communities bury their dead below the standard
1.8 m (6 ft),
trying to keep these so-called “grave robbers”
from feasting on families' dearly departed.
These ancient reptiles can eat up to 80%
of their body weight in a single meal.
That's like a 68 kg (150 lb) person
eating 48 porterhouse steaks in one sitting.
I mean, I like eating a lot, but that's a bit excessive.
I've done it.
Speaking of steak,
Komodo dragons will sometimes hunt
water buffalo,
which are five times the lizards' size
at over 450 kg (1,000 lb).
They take down this large prey by using their own size
to knock them over.
Then they use their vicious teeth to bite
and shred their victims.
Though Komodos could easily take down a human,
they rarely do.
While attacks on humans do happen,
they are infrequent.
Usually, they happen to an unwary national park guard
or an unlucky villager who is in the wrong place
at the wrong time.
As easily as they can eat all that meat, they can purge it.
When escaping predators,
like humans
or other Komodo dragons,
they will vomit all their stomach's contents.
It lightens their load, making them faster.
And also probably grosses them out.
That makes perfect sense to me.
I can't imagine sprinting with 48 steaks in my stomach.
Again, I've done it.
Just like mythical dragons,
these creatures strike fear
into the hearts of many.
But herpetologists, zoologists
and reptile-enthusiasts see them differently.
They are, after all, real-life dragons,
and that's pretty dang cool.
Being the world's largest lizard
and having a venomous bite is what Komodo dragons do.
And that's what makes them Crazy Creatures.