Komodo Dragon

The Komodo Dragon also known as Varanus komodoensis or land cocrodile is a largest species of monitor lizards. The Komodo dragon has a huge muscular tail as long as its huge body. It also has a long, yellow, deeply forked tongue. They also have long, flat heads with rounded snouts, scaly skin, bowed legs.

Physical Characteristc

1. Can grow to a length of over 3m, with an average length of 2.5m and a weight of 91 kg or even more.
2. Keen sense of smell, if aided by favourable wind, enables it to seek out preys up to 8.5km away by using its tongue!!!
3. They have 60 teeth that are laterally compressed with serrated edges which are replace frequently.
4. Deaf despite having large ear holes, can see up 300m but poor visual discrimination of stationary object.
5. Have a mouth filled with bacteria and venom gland to kill and disable the prey.
6. Fast and agile, capable in swimming and climbing.

Population

There is currently 3,000 to 5,000 on the island of Komodo, Gila Motang, Rinca and Flores. However, there are concerns that there may presently be only 350 breeding females.

Diet & Behaviour

1. Carnivorous and cannibalistic and it has a usual appetite.
2. Can eat a whopping 80 percent of its body weight in a single feeding.
3. Can survive on as little as 12 meals a year.
4. Wide-ranging, other reptiles (including smaller Komodo dragons), birds, bird eggs, small mammals, monkeys, wild boar, goats, deer, horses, and water buffalo.
5. Generally solitary animals, except during the breeding season.
6. Males maintain and defend a territory, allowing other dragon to cross during food runs.
7. Maintain burrow within their core range and to regulate its temperature.

Habitat

Reproduction

1. The female lays her eggs in burrows cut into the side of a hill or in the abandoned nesting mounds
2. The female lies on the eggs to incubate and protect them until they hatch.
3. They are born quite defenseless, and many are eaten by predators, left alone to survive.

STATUS:

Endangered: The largest threat is volcanic activity, fire and subsequent loss of its prey base. Currently habitat alteration , poaching of prey species and tourism may have the most pronounced effect.Commercial trade in specimens or skins is illegal under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Video on Komodo dragon