KOMODO DRAGONS

KOMODO DRAGONS

Many years ago, when I was a child, I was watching on TV a documentary of Komodo dragons and I was astonished about their magnificent.
Last summer I went to Indonesia and I wanted to visit one of the islands where these dragons live but it was impossible.
Maybe this summer I will see them because I am thinking to come back to Indonesia.

The Komodo dragon is the largest lizard in the world. They live in various islands in Indonesia: Komodo, Rinca and Flores.
The first time one European person saw one was in 1910. In 1980 the Komodo National Park was founded to try to protect them.
Large adults tend to weigh around 70 kg but in captivity they can weigh more. The biggest one that have been founded was 3.13 metres and weighed 166 kg.
Komodo dragons have a tail that is as long as its body. They have 52 serrated teeth that can be 2.5 centimetres long. Their saliva is red like blood and they have a long yellow tongue.
Males are bigger than females. Komodo dragons like hot and dry places. They live in dry open grasslands, savannas and tropical forest at lower elevations. They are diurnal creatures but on certain occasions they have activity at night.
Komodo dragons are solitary animals but sometimes they meet others to breed and eat. They can run very fast (20 km per h), swim and climb trees using their large claws. They are a little blind and for this reason do not see stationary objects very well. They do not hear very well either. Like other reptiles they use its tongue to detect taste and smell stimulus.
Its only predator is human and for this reason they are really important for eliminating weak and sick animals.
New research at University of Melbourne suggest that Komodo dragon and many other lizards are venomous. They have a venom called Toxicofera.
Komodo dragons are carnivorous. They eat insects, small reptiles, birds, bird eggs and small mammals, wild pigs, goats, deer, macaques, horses and water buffalos.
Occasionally they have been known to eat humans and human corpses. Over a dozen human deaths have been atributed to dragons bites in the last century.
They have a strict hierarchy when they are eating. The dominant male eats first and when he is finished the others males of the group eat. Females do not have hierarchy and eat all together.
The mating season is between May and August. Females lay the eggs during 7 months. When the young dragons are born they spend their first years living in the trees to protect themselves. They grow till 2-3 metres in 3-5 years and they can live 25-30 years.