Komodo Dragon WORK

Komodo dragons are large lizards with long tails, strong and agile necks, and sturdy limbs. Their tongues are yellow and forked. Adults are an almost-uniform stone color with distinct, large scales, while juveniles may display a more vibrant color and pattern.

Although males tend to grow larger and bulkier than females, no obvious morphological differences mark the sexes. One subtle clue does exist: a slight difference in the arrangement of scales just in front of the cloaca. Sexing Komodos remains a challenge for human researchers; the dragons themselves appear to have little trouble figuring out who is who.

Komodo Dragon

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The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard in the world. These wild dragons typically weigh about 154 pounds (70 kilograms), but the largest verified specimen reached a length of 10.3 feet (3.13 meters) and weighed 366 pounds (166 kilograms). Males tend to grow larger and bulkier than females.

Komodo dragons are limited to a few Indonesian islands of the Lesser Sunda group, including Rintja, Padar and Flores, and of course the island of Komodo, the largest at 22 miles (35 kilometers) long. They have not been seen on the island of Padar since the 1970s.

Komodo dragons eat almost any kind of meat, scavenging for carcasses or stalking animals that range in size from small rodents to large water buffalo. Young feed primarily on small lizards and insects, as well as snakes and birds. If they live to be 5 years old, they move onto larger prey, such as rodents, monkeys, goats, wild boars and deer (the most popular meal). These reptiles are tertiary predators at the top of their food chain and are also cannibalistic.

Most of the monitor's attempts at bringing down prey are unsuccessful. However, if it is able to bite its prey, bacteria and venom in its saliva will kill the prey within a few days. After the animal dies, which can take up to four days, the Komodo uses its powerful sense of smell to locate the body. A kill is often shared between many Komodo dragons.

The Komodo dragon's sense of smell is its primary food detector. It uses its long, yellow, forked tongue to sample the air. It then moves the forked tip of its tongue to the roof of its mouth, where it makes contact with the Jacobson's organs. These chemical analyzers "smell" prey, such as a deer, by recognizing airborne molecules. If the concentration of molecules present on the left tip of the tongue is greater than that sample from the right, the Komodo dragon knows that the deer is approaching from the left.

This system, along with an undulatory walk, in which the head swings from side to side, helps the dragon sense the existence and direction of food. At times, these reptiles can smell carrion, or rotting flesh, up to 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) away.

This lizard's large, curved and serrated teeth are its deadliest weapon, tearing flesh with efficiency. The tooth serrations hold bits of meat from its most recent meal, and this protein-rich residue supports large numbers of bacteria. Some 50 different bacterial strains, at least seven of which are highly septic, have been found in the saliva. Researchers have also documented a venom gland in the dragon's lower jaw. In addition to the harmful bacteria, the venom prevents the blood from clotting, which causes massive blood loss and induces shock.

The Komodo's bite may be deadly, but not to another Komodo dragon. Those wounded while sparring with each other appear to be unaffected by the bacteria and venom. Scientists are searching for antibodies in Komodo dragon blood that may be responsible.

The lizard's throat and neck muscles allow it to rapidly swallow huge chunks of meat. Several movable joints, such as the intramandibular hinge, open its lower jaw unusually wide. The dragon's stomach also easily expands, enabling an adult to consume up to 80 percent of its own body weight in a single meal. When threatened, Komodo dragons can throw up the contents of their stomachs to lessen their weight in order to flee.

Komodo dragons are efficient eaters, leaving behind only about 12 percent of their prey. They eat bones, hooves and sections of hide, as well as intestines (after swinging them to dislodge their contents).

Because large Komodos cannibalize young ones, the young often roll in fecal material, thereby assuming a scent that the large dragons are programmed to avoid. Young dragons also undergo rituals of appeasement, with the smaller lizards pacing around a feeding circle in a stately ritualized walk. Their tail is stuck straight out and they throw their body from side to side with exaggerated convulsions.

While they have been hunted (legally and illegally), their population decline is due to their limited range. No Komodo dragons have been seen on the island of Padar since the 1970s, the result of widespread poaching of deer, the reptile's primary source of prey.

Komodo National Park, established in 1980, and strict anti-poaching laws have helped protect the dragons, although illegal activity still takes place. Villagers sometimes poison carrion bait to reduce the population, much like ranchers of the American West poison sheep carcasses to rid the area of coyotes and mountain lions. The Dutch colonial government instituted protection plans as early as 1915.

Each year, more than 18,000 people travel to Indonesia to visit sites that still have these animals. The tourism provides an economic incentive for local people to support the Komodo dragon's protection.

The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. It is the largest extant species of lizard, growing to a maximum length of 3 m (9.8 ft), and weighing up to 70 kg (150 lb).

As a result of their size, Komodo dragons are apex predators, and dominate the ecosystems in which they live. Komodo dragons hunt and ambush prey including invertebrates, birds, and mammals. Komodo dragons' group behavior in hunting is exceptional in the reptile world. The diet of Komodo dragons mainly consists of Javan rusa (Rusa timorensis), though they also eat considerable amounts of carrion. Komodo dragons also occasionally attack humans.

Mating begins between May and August, and the eggs are laid in September; as many as 20 eggs are deposited at a time in an abandoned megapode nest or in a self-dug nesting hole. The eggs are incubated for seven to eight months, hatching in April, when insects are most plentiful. Young Komodo dragons are vulnerable and dwell in trees to avoid predators, such as cannibalistic adults. They take 8 to 9 years to mature and are estimated to live up to 30 years.

Komodo dragons were first recorded by Western scientists in 1910. Their large size and fearsome reputation make them popular zoo exhibits. In the wild, their range has contracted due to human activities, and is likely to contract further from the effects of climate change; due to this, they are listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List. They are protected under Indonesian law, and Komodo National Park was founded in 1980 to aid protection efforts.

Komodo dragons were first documented by Europeans in 1910, when rumors of a "land crocodile" reached Lieutenant van Steyn van Hensbroek of the Dutch colonial administration.[5] Widespread notoriety came after 1912, when Peter Ouwens, the director of the Zoological Museum of Bogor, Java, published a paper on the topic after receiving a photo and a skin from the lieutenant, as well as two other specimens from a collector.[4]

The first two live Komodo dragons to arrive in Europe were exhibited in the Reptile House at London Zoo when it opened in 1927.[6] Joan Beauchamp Procter made some of the earliest observations of these animals in captivity and she demonstrated their behaviour at a scientific meeting of the Zoological Society of London in 1928.[7]

The Komodo dragon was the driving factor for an expedition to Komodo Island by W. Douglas Burden in 1926. After returning with 12 preserved specimens and two live ones, this expedition provided the inspiration for the 1933 movie King Kong.[8] It was also Burden who coined the common name "Komodo dragon".[9] Three of his specimens were stuffed and are still on display in the American Museum of Natural History.[10]

The Dutch island administration, realizing the limited number of individuals in the wild, soon outlawed sport hunting and heavily limited the number of individuals taken for scientific study. Collecting expeditions ground to a halt with the occurrence of World War II, not resuming until the 1950s and 1960s, when studies examined the Komodo dragon's feeding behavior, reproduction, and body temperature. At around this time, an expedition was planned in which a long-term study of the Komodo dragon would be undertaken. This task was given to the Auffenberg family, who stayed on Komodo Island for 11 months in 1969. During their stay, Walter Auffenberg and his assistant Putra Sastrawan captured and tagged more than 50 Komodo dragons.[11]

Research from the Auffenberg expedition proved enormously influential in raising Komodo dragons in captivity.[12] Research after that of the Auffenberg family has shed more light on the nature of the Komodo dragon, with biologists such as Claudio Ciofi continuing to study the creatures.[13]

The Komodo dragon is also sometimes known as the Komodo monitor or the Komodo Island monitor in scientific literature,[14] although these names are uncommon. To the natives of Komodo Island, it is referred to as ora, buaya darat ('land crocodile'), or biawak raksasa ('giant monitor').[15][5]

Genetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA shows the Komodo dragon to be the closest relative (sister taxon) of the Australian lace monitor (V. varius), with their common ancestor diverging from a lineage that gave rise to the crocodile monitor (Varanus salvadorii) of New Guinea.[16][17][18] A 2021 study showed that during the late Miocene, the ancestors of Komodo dragons had hybridized with the common ancestor of Australian sand monitors (including V. spenceri, V. gouldii, V. rosenbergi and V. panoptes).[19][20][21] 17dc91bb1f