What 'dragon' is the world's largest lizard, named after its unique Indonesian island habitat? View the step-by-step solution to: What 'dragon' is the world's largest lizard, named after its unique Indonesian island habitat? This question was answered on May 31, 2016. View the Answer What 'dragon' is the world's largest lizard, named after its unique Indonesian island habitat? dawnwright43 posted a question · May 31, 2016 at 4:54am Top Answer The answer to this question... View the full answer {[ getNetScore(29837824) ]} rampsaud answered the question · May 31, 2016 at 4:55am Other Answers The way to approach this... View the full answer {[ getNetScore(29837832) ]} profsakim answered the question · May 31, 2016 at 4:55am The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), also known as the...

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Komodo Dragon Facts Komodo Dragon Facts By Alina Bradford, Live Science Contributor | October 17, 2014 07:09pm ET MORE Credit: Sergey Uryadnikov / Shutterstock Komodo dragons are the largest living lizards in the world. They are identified by their massive size, flat heads, bowed legs and long, thick tails. The name comes from rumors that a dragon-like creature lived on the Indonesian island of Komodo. No Western scientists had seen a Komodo dragon until 1912, according to the San Diego Zoo. Local people call them "ora," or "land crocodile." Size & characteristics The average size of a male Komodo dragon is 8 to 9 feet and about 200 lbs., according to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park , but they can reach a whopping 10 feet (3 meters) in length. Females grow to 6 feet (1.8 m). Komodos come in a variety of colors, including blue, orange, green and gray. Their skin is rough and durable, reinforced with bony plates called osteoderms. They have long claws and a large, muscular tail.

Komodos have good vision; they can see objects as far away as 985 feet (300 m), according to the Smithsonian Zoo. They are also speedy. They can run briefly up to 13 mph (20 kph) but prefer to hunt by stealth — waiting for hours until prey cross their path. Their sense of smell is their primary food detector, however. According to the Smithsonian Zoo, Komodo dragons, like snakes, use their forked tongues to sample the air, and then touch the tongue to the roof of their mouth, where special organs analyze the airborne molecules. If the left tongue tip has more concentrated "smell," the dragon knows that their prey is approaching from the left. Habitat Komodos are very rare and are found in the wild only on five islands: the Lesser Sunda Islands of Komodo, Rinca, Gili Montang and Gili Dasami — all within Komodo National Park — and the island of Flores, where the Komodo roams freely. The lizard's habitat can be anything from a tropical dry forest to a savanna to a deciduous monsoon forest. No matter where they live, the Komodo likes extreme heat.

It is usually around 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) with 70-percent humidity on the islands of Indonesia, according to the San Diego Zoo . Komodos have dual-purpose homes. To stay warm at night, they make or find burrows to nestle down in. During the day the same burrow keeps them cool. Diet Komodo dragons are carnivores, meaning they eat meat. They are such fierce hunters they can eat very large prey, such as large water buffalo, deer, carrion, pigs and even humans. They will also eat smaller dragons. They can eat 80 percent of their body weight in one feeding, according to the National Geographic . 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. If the prey escapes, it will die within 24 hours of blood poisoning because the Komodo's saliva contains 50 strains of bacteria, according to National Geographic. With its fantastic sense of smell, the Komodo will find the dead animal and finish its meal.

According to the San Diego Zoo, while recent research suggests that Komodo dragons are venomous due to their saliva, more studies are needed before making such a conclusion. Komodo Dragon Babies Credit: Tad Motoyama/Los Angeles Zoo Offspring Komodo dragons are generally solitary outside of mating season. Males maintain and defend a territory and patrol up to 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) per day. Komodo dragons mate between May and August and females lay about 30 eggs each in September. Komodo dragon mothers will also build decoy nests to confuse predators and keep her eggs safe. Then she will incubate the grapefruit-sized eggs for around three months. This group of eggs is called a clutch. Female Komodo dragons can have virgin births . This means that they don't need a male to fertilize an egg for it to hatch. Creating offspring without the help of the opposite gender is called asexual reproduction. Komodo dragons can reproduce through both sexual and asexual reproduction. There is no evidence that parents care for newly hatched Komodos, according to the Smithsonian Zoo. At birth, baby dragons are only 12 inches (30 centimeters) long.

As soon as they hatch, the young will run away and climb up trees to avoid being eaten by their mother or other Komodos. When they are 4 years old and around 4 feet (1.2 m), the young Komodos will come down and live on the ground, according to the San Diego Zoo. Those that survive can look forward to a long life. A Komodo can live to more than 30 years. Classification/taxonomy Komodo dragons are a species of monitor lizard, which are large reptiles found in Africa and across Asia. The taxonomy of Komodo dragons, according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), is: Kingdom: Animalia Genus & species: Varanus komodoensis Conservation status According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species , the Komodo dragon is not endangered, but it is considered vulnerable. The World Animal Foundation estimates the number of Komodos in the wild to be 6,000. This population is split among the islands, with 1,700 on Komodo, 1,300 on Rinca, 100 on Gili Motang and around 2,000 on Flores.

They are protected within the Komodo National Park. Komodo dragons hatched for the first time outside of Indonesia in 1992 at the Smithsonian Zoo, according to a zoo fact sheet. The zoo reports that four clutches have hatched and 55 offspring are now living in more than 30 zoos around the world. Additional resources Komodo Island and its Dragons Advertisements: Komodo Island and its Dragons Komodo is an Indonesian island home to approximately 2,000 people who are mostly descendants of former convicts once exiled here. The island which covers an area of 390km² is part of Komodo National Park and is especially known for its native Komodo Dragon - the world's largest living lizard! For centuries, a local tradition required feeding the dragons by leaving deer parts behind after a hunt or by sacrificing goats. In the past, the practice maintained a friendly relationship with the animals, which can live for more than 50 years and recognise individual humans. Ancient taboos strictly forbid harming the komodos, which is why they survived here while becoming extinct elsewhere.

In 1995 a US environment protection group began a conservation project designed to create a more natural habitat for the komodos, prohibiting the feeding tradition as well as deer hunting practised by the islanders. The deer population consequently increased and is now providing the komodos a more self-sufficient and natural hunting ground than in recent history. Still, having become used to being fed, the komodos occasionally prefer to seek out easier prey in the vicinity of human settlements by entering villages and hiding under stilt-houses while awaiting the opportunity to snap passing goat or chicken. At the same time, the animals have become more aggressive towards humans, sometimes resulting in deadly attacks. Nevertheless, the Komodo Dragon remains a symbolic attraction of the island, drawing a large number of visiting tourists, which provides employment and supports the local economy. Komodo Island is not just known for its heritage of convicts and fearsome lizards but also for its rich marine life and excellent dive sites. Additional information and articles The UnMuseum - Giant Lizards A Komodo Dragon avoids the hot, tropical sun by finding shade under a tree. (Copyright Lee Krystek, 1998) Giant Lizards You pause from hiking down the mountain to enjoy the sunset.

Below lies a serene tropical beach and above a cloud forest. Around you are hills covered with savanna. In the ravines between the hills are monsoon forests. An amazing range of environments, you think to yourself, for an island only twenty miles long and ten miles wide. Suddenly from the thick grass nearby a buck bolts and runs across your path. You are startled, but soon recover. After all, it is only a deer, and in a few seconds your heart rate drops back to normal. Still, something is not right. You have the feeling you are being watched. A feeling of dread. The hairs on the back of your neck suddenly stand on end. But you don't see anything. Then you notice a smell. Unpleasant. Very unpleasant. You hear a sound in the nearby grass. You turn to look, and then it happens. The grass flies apart and something comes at you. Reptilian with cold, dead eyes. It's big. Very big. Twice your size from its ugly head to its massive tail and more than your weight. The creature's jaws open to display a set of inch-long serrated teeth dripping with deadly saliva. The speed of this monster is incredible.

Before you can even move it is upon you, its wide mouth biting down on your thigh... What is this? A scene from the next film installment of Jurassic Park? No, the above can really happen and has really happened on the small Indonesian Island of Komodo. A bit of remote land where dragons dwell. They are the largest lizards in the world, the Komodo Dragons. Cryptozoological Surprise A young dragon on the prowl. (Copyright Lee Krystek, 1998) The discovery of the Komodo Dragons (Varanus komodoensis) is one of the cryptozoological surprises of the 20th century. Before 1912 the species was completely unknown and large lizards were thought to be extinct. Then, in that year, a party of pearl fishermen anchored at an almost entirely-unknown isle in a chain of islands called the Lesser Sundas. The fishermen brought back stories of an enormous, prehistoric creature living there. The island's name was Komodo. An expedition followed from the Buitenzorg Zoological Museum in Java. A report about the dragons was published, but received little attention in the years leading up to World War I.

It wasn't until 1926 that an expedition from the American Museum of Natural History , under the leadership of W. Douglas Burden, traveled to this remote island to further investigate the dragons and, if possible, bring some back alive. The expedition discovered that the stories were true. The largest of these lizards measured over ten feet from nose to tail. The males were the top predator on the island, capable of killing a water buffalo several times its weight. The Burden expedition, with considerable difficulty, managed to bring home twelve dead specimens and two live lizards. Venom or Toxic Bacteria? For years scientists thought that the Komodo Dragon did not poison its victims, but that its fearsome bite infected the animal with septic bacteria that slowly weakened and killed it. A recent study by led by Dr. Bryan Fry from the University of Melbourne, however, showed that the Dragon does have venomous glands in its mouth. The venom keeps the victim's blood from clotting at the wound leading to a drop in blood pressure. The loss of blood and the lower the blood pressure weaken the animal and cause it to eventually stop moving so the Dragon can safely approach and finish it.

Fry believes that this specialized bite and venom shortens the contact the Dragon has with its victim allowing it to take much larger prey than might otherwise be expected. The Komodo dragons still live on Komodo today and have also been discovered on several neighboring islands. Though there are as many dragons alive today as in 1912, they are still considered an endangered species because they have such a small habitat that an ecological disaster, like a single volcanic eruption, might wipe them out. Dangerous? Are the dragons dangerous to humans? Yes. A Swiss tourist who sat down to relax while the rest of his tour group went onward was attacked and eaten by a dragon. All that was left was a piece of his camera. In March of 2009 an Indonesian fisherman was killed when he trespassed one of the remote islands in the Dragon's habitat in search of fruit. Though incidents are only few in number, that might be because the dragons live in such isolated locations. The Island of Komodo has only 800 human inhabitants and double the number of dragons. Most of the other islands where the dragons live have no permanent human residents at all. The dragons can eat up to 80 percent of their own weight in a single sitting.

Their attack strategy is to wait in ambush, then rush forward and tear a single large bite from the victim. The victim soon collapses due to blood loss. Though most Komodo dragons prefer wild bore or deer as their meals, they will try to attack and consume almost every other animal they can find, including other dragons (Interestingly enough for reasons scientists still don't understand, the dragons are not susceptible to infections from the bites of other Komodos). When the first expeditions landed on the island they recorded the largest male dragons to have a top weight of around 300 pounds. More recent studies have indicated that this figure is high,. probably due to the a substantial amount of undigested food in those specimens' stomachs. A more typical weight for the largest dragons is probably around 160 pounds. Though the Komodo's can see fairly well, they do most of their hunting based on smell. Also a dragon can detect the smell of carrion from a distance of several miles when the wind is right. Although they will hunt when they have to, these giant lizards are more than happy to consume an already dead animal when they come across one.

A close up of the armor-like skin of a Komodo Dragon (Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons and Phyzome) Komodos are very fast for short sprints and can scramble up a hill as fast as a man can run on level ground. They have huge curved claws and teeth similar in shape to a Tyrannosaurus Rex's. Like a snake they can stretch their jaws to swallow large chunks of their victims. The Komodo's defense includes a thick skin with heavy folds that make the lizard look as if it is wearing a suit of chain mail armor. They are also one of the smartest lizards and their eyes seem to hold a primal, but clear intelligence. Cold Blooded Killer Why are Komodos the top predators on the island instead of an animal like the tiger? Scientists think that it has to do with the creatures's metabolism. The Komodo Dragon, like most reptiles, is cold-blooded (scientists continue to debate whether dinosaurs were cold-blooded ). This means it doesn't maintain a constant body temperature, but is dependent on the sun to warm it up enough in the morning so it can take on vigorous activity. Tigers are warm-blooded and maintain a constant body temperature at all times.

This allows them to be active no matter what the temperature or time of day. Animals who are warm-blooded burn much more energy than cold-blooded ones. This means they must eat more. Scientists think that islands like Komodo are just too small and have too few prey animals to feed a population of warm-blooded, high-energy tigers, but can support the lower energy demands of the cold-blooded dragons. Even Bigger Lizards So are the Komodos the largest lizards out there? Fossil finds in Queensland, Australia, indicate that the Komodo Dragon had a much larger cousin, Megalania prisca, in the prehistoric past. Megalania was more than twenty feet in length and weighed more than 1000 pounds. Though it sounds like a dinosaur, it was a giant lizard. Unlike the dinosaurs, Megalania lived at a time when humans were present and undoubtedly Megalania consumed some Homo sapiens. VIDEO: A look at this magnificent lizard in its natural habitat. This gigantic lizard lived during the Pleistocene period. It made its debut about 1.5 million years ago and disappeared around 19,000 years ago. Or did it?

There have been sightings of large lizards in the Australian outback for some time. In July 1979, cryptozoologist Rex Gilroy was called to a freshly-plowed field by a farmer. Across the field were 30 or so tracks from what looked like an enormous lizard. While most of the tracks had been ruined by rain, Gilroy was able to make a plaster cast of one that had been preserved. The footprint looked surprisingly like something that might have been made by a Megalania. Other incidents include a farmer who saw a lizard moving along the edge of his field. Using a set of fence posts as a guide, the farmer estimated the animal's length at twenty to twenty-five feet. In 1961 three woodcutters were scared by a lizard they thought to be twenty feet long. The largest known Australian lizard is Varanus giganteus, a relative of Megalania and the Komodos. At six feet long and with a weight of thirty to forty pounds, though, it seems too small to explain these reports. So are there giant lizards still out in the wilds of Australia? The only way of knowing for sure is for somebody to bring one back, dead or alive.

The Komodo dragon surprised science once with its existence. Perhaps the Megalania will too. Copyright Lee Krystek, 2010 Copyright Lee Krystek,1998-2009. All Rights Reserved Komodo dragon | Smithsonian's National Zoo Conservation Physical Description A large lizard, Komodo dragons have long tails; strong, agile necks and sturdy limbs. Adult Komodo dragons are an almost-uniform stone color with distinct, large scales. Juvenile dragons may display more vibrant coloring and patterning. Their tongues are yellow and forked, appropriate for their draconian name. The muscles of the Komodo's jaws and throat allow it to swallow huge chunks of meat with astonishing rapidity. Several movable joints, such as the intramandibular hinge opens the lower jaw unusually wide. The stomach expands easily, enabling an adult to consume up to 80 percent of its own body weight in a single meal, which most likely explains some exaggerated claims for immense weights in captured individuals. When threatened, Komodos can throw up the contents of their stomachs to lessen their weight in order to flee. 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. Size The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard in the world. The largest verified specimen reached a length of 10.3 feet (3.13 meters) and weighed 366 pounds (166 kilograms). The largest wild dragons more typically weigh about 154 pounds (70 kilograms). Native Habitat 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. They live in tropical savanna forests, but range widely over the islands, from beach to ridge top. Food/Eating Habits Monitors can see objects as far away as 985 feet (300 meters), so vision does play a role in hunting, especially as their eyes are better at picking up movement than at discerning stationary objects. Their retinas possess only cones, so they may be able to distinguish color but have poor vision in dim light. They have a much smaller hearing range than humans.

The result is an animal that cannot hear such sounds as a low-pitched voice or a high-pitched scream. Vision and hearing are useful, but the Komodo's sense of smell is its primary food detector. The Komodo smells much like a snake does. It uses its long, yellow forked tongue to sample the air, after which the two tongue tips retreat to the roof of the mouth where they make contact with the Jacobson's organs. The chemical analyzers "smell" a deer by recognizing airborne molecules. If the concentration present on the left tongue tip is higher than that sampled from the right, the Komodo 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 odoriferous carrion from as far away as 2.5 miles (4 kilometers), when the wind is right. When the Komodo is hunting and catches its prey, such as a deer, it attacks the feet first, knocking the deer off balance. When dealing with smaller prey, it may lunge straight for the neck. The dragon's basic strategy is simple: try to smash the quarry to the ground and tear it to pieces.

Strong muscles driving powerful claws accomplish some of this, but the Komodo's teeth are its most dangerous weapon. They are large, curved and serrated and tear flesh with efficiency. If the deer fails to escape immediately, the Komodo will continue to rip it apart. Once convinced that its prey is incapacitated, the dragon may break off its offensive for a brief rest. The deer is now badly injured and in shock. The dragon then launches the final blow, a belly attack. The deer quickly bleeds to death and the Komodo begins to feed. Its tooth serrations harbor bits of meat from the Komodo's last meal, either fresh prey or carrion. This protein-rich residue supports large numbers of bacteria. They have found some 50 different bacterial strains, at least seven of which are highly septic, in the saliva. If the prey somehow maneuvers away and escapes death at this point, chances are that its victory, and it, will be short- lived. The infections it incurs from the Komodo bite will probably kill it in less than a week. In addition to the bacteria in their saliva, researchers have recently documented that Komodos do have a venom gland found in their lower jaw.

In addition to the damage the bacteria in their saliva do, the venom prevents the blood from clotting. The Komodo bite is not deadly to another Komodo, however. Dragons wounded in battle with their comrades appear to be unaffected by the otherwise deadly bacteria and venom. Scientists are searching for antibodies in Komodo blood that may be responsible for saving them from the fate of the infected prey. Large mammalian carnivores, such as lions, tend to leave 25 to 30 percent of their kill unconsumed, declining the intestines, hide, skeleton and hooves. Komodos eat much more efficiently, forsaking only about 12 percent of the prey. They eat bones, hooves and swaths of hide. They also eat intestines, but only after swinging them vigorously to scatter their contents. This behavior removes feces from the meal. Komodo dragons eat almost any kind of meat. They scavenge from carcasses or stalk animals ranging in size from small rodents to large water buffalo. The young feed on mostly small gecko lizards or insects. They are tertiary predators (predator at the top of the food chain) and are cannibalistic.

They can detect carrion from a considerable distance, about 2.5 miles (4 km), and actively seek it out. When hunting, Komodos hunt along game trails, where they wait for deer or boar to pass by. They then attack the prey; most attempts are unsuccessful in bringing down an animal. However, if the dragon is able to bite the prey, toxic bacteria and venom in the saliva will kill the prey within the next few days. After the prey animal dies, which may take up to four days, Komodos use their powerful sense of smell to locate the dead animal. A kill is usually shared by many Komodo dragons and very little is wasted. The Smithsonian's National Zoo's Komodo dragon eats rodents, chicks and rabbits weekly. Occasionally, he gets fish. Social Structure 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. Reproduction and Development Most mating occurs between May and August.

With a group assembled around the carrion, the opportunity for courtship arrives. Dominant males can become embroiled in ritual combat in their quest for females. Using their tails for support, they wrestle in upright postures, grabbing each other with their forelegs as they attempt to throw the opponent to the ground. Blood is usually drawn and the loser either runs or remains prone and motionless. The female Komodo lays about 30 eggs. A delay in laying may serve to help the clutch avoid the brutally hot months of the dry season. In addition, unfertilized eggs may have a second chance with a subsequent mating. The female lays her eggs in depressions dug on hill slopes or within the pilfered nests of megapodes—large, chicken-like birds that make nests of heaped earth mixed with twigs that may reach 3 feet (1 meter) in height and 10 feet (3 meters) across. While the eggs are incubating—about nine months—females may lie on the nests, protecting their future offspring. No evidence exists, however, for parental care of newly hatched Komodos.

The hatchlings weigh less than 3.5 ounces (100 grams) and average 16 inches (40 centimeters) in length. Their early years are precarious, and they often fall victim to predators, including their fellow Komodos. They feed on a diverse diet of insects, small lizards, snakes and birds. Should they live five years, they can weigh 55 pounds (25 kilograms) and stretch 6.5 feet (2 meters) long. By this time, they have moved on to bigger prey such as rodents, monkeys, goats, wild boars and the most popular Komodo food, deer. Slow growth continues throughout their lives, which may last more than 30 years Sleep Habits They escape the heat of the day and seek refuge at night in burrows that are just barely bigger than they are. Lifespan Dragons live about 30 years in the wild, but scientists are still studying this. While they have been hunted (legally and illegally), their population decline is due to their limited range. 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. 1000+ images about Komodo Dragons on Pinterest | Komodo, Zoos and Komodo dragon Komodo Dragon at ZSL London Zoo by Sophie L. Miller, via Flickr See More National Geographic Magazine - NGM.com Earth’s most monstrous lizard faces an uncertain future. By Jennifer S. Holland Photograph by Stefano Unterthiner Here’s what it takes to catch a dragon. Slaughter a goat. Cut it up. Enlist a few strong friends to hoist three ten-foot-long steel traps, grab bags of goat meat, and trek a few miles up and down knee-punishing hills. Ignore the 90-plus-degree heat that wraps you up and steams you like a dumpling. Set up the first trap with hunks of flesh and hang a few meat bags in trees to “scent” the air. Hike another couple of miles. Lay another trap. Cover three or four more miles, repeat.

Return to camp; fill a bucket with cold water and dump it over your head. Sleep. Revisit each trap in the morning and afternoon for the next two days. They’ll likely be empty, but if you’re lucky, you’ll draw near, and there it will be: the world’s biggest lizard, a grim-faced giant known as the Komodo dragon. The man who devised this scheme is not your stereotypical dragon hunter. Claudio Ciofi, in his late 40s, a biologist and lecturer at the University of Florence, is mellow, slight of build, with kindly eyes. Tidy. He’s the kind of guy who neatly folds his filthy field clothes when he packs to go home. He arrived in Indonesia in 1994 to complete a Ph.D. on dragon genetics. Then he saw the living relics up close. He was entranced. And other scientists weren’t really paying attention to them. “I expected to find an organization studying dragons,” he recalls. “They are as charismatic and interesting as tigers and orangutans. But there was no one. Komodo dragons were all alone.” So Ciofi expanded his research. He sought to understand every aspect of a dragon’s life.

With quiet persistence and top-notch Indonesian and Australian collaborators, he has given us much of our knowledge of the dragons and is working to improve their chances of surviving their 21st-century troubles. Even though they are dragons and can grow as long as 9.9 feet and weigh nearly 200 pounds, they are still vulnerable to the modern problems that afflict so many animals, from habitat loss to climate change. Of course monitor lizards, as the dragon’s family of animals is known, have survived many cycles of change. This particular species split off maybe five million years ago, but its genus goes back some 40 million, and its dinosaur ancestor lived 200 million years ago. Varanus komodoensis has the lizard lifestyle down—basking in the sun, hunting and scavenging, laying and guarding eggs with no intention of being a parent after they hatch. Dragons put in a good 30 to 50 years, most of the time solo. Meanwhile their window on the world is mighty small: They’re found on just a few islands in Southeast Asia, all within the Indonesian archipelago. Jutting abruptly from the sea, these rugged volcanic lands have palm savannas and grasslands.

Up higher are rings of forest. But much of the year the dragons’ habitat is dragon brown, with monsoon season a brief green reprieve. The earliest record of this extraordinary lizard is likely the three words “Here be dragons” emblazoned on ancient maps of the region. And surely the first humans who saw the animals would have added: Beware! An avid hunter, the Komodo dragon can hit 12 miles an hour in short bursts. The reptiles ambush their prey, ripping open the softest flesh, typically the belly, or maiming a leg. As a backup, dragons do, in a way, breathe fire. Their mouths drip with venomous saliva that keeps blood from clotting—so bite victims bleed out quickly. A wounded victim that gets away is likely to pick up pathogens from watering holes, resulting in infection. Either way, death is almost certain. And dragons can be very patient. The lizards also scavenge—they’re opportunists, always on the lookout for food, alive or dead. Scavenging takes less energy than hunting, and the dragons can detect the scent of a rotting carcass from miles away.

Little is wasted: The big lizards aren’t picky about which body parts they eat. Despite the dragon’s somewhat off-putting habits, islanders do not necessarily respond with fear and disgust. An Indonesian folk story tells of a prince about to slay a dragon. His mother, the Dragon Princess, appears and cries, “Do not kill this animal. She is your sister Orah. I bore you together. Consider her your equal, because you are sebai—twins.” Modern times have not entirely quashed this belief. In Komodo village I climb a crooked wooden ladder to the house on stilts of an elder named Caco, who guesses his age to be 85 years. My guide says this slight, bespectacled man is a dragon guru; the elder doesn’t refute the title. I ask him how villagers feel about dragons and the danger they pose. “People here consider this animal our ancestor,” he says. “It is sacred.” In years past when islanders would kill a deer, he said, they’d leave half the meat as an offering to their scaly relative. Then things changed. Although no one has solid figures, the dragon population appears to have declined over the past 50 years.

The government offered legal protection, responding to pressure from conservationists and also realizing the economic value of dragon-related tourism. In 1980 much of the dragon’s habitat was turned into Komodo National Park (KNP), which encompasses all of Komodo, Rinca, and other smaller islands. Later three nature reserves were added, two of them on Flores Island. Dragons are safeguarded from any human assault within KNP. What’s more, dragon prey is also off-limits: Killing deer is forbidden. And thus villagers are no longer able to offer meat. That, some say, has made the dragons more than a bit peeved. Attacks aren’t common, but recently a few have made the news. Last year a 6.5-foot-long monitor wandered into an open office in KNP and bit two rangers, each on the left leg. The men were flown to Bali for treatment to prevent infection. Both recovered. In another incident an 83-year-old woman fought off a six-plus-footer with a homemade broom and well-placed kicks. The dragon bit her hand, which needed 35 stitches. Other incidents have ended tragically.

In 2007 a dragon attacked a village boy named Mansur, who had taken a break from a soccer game to relieve himself behind some trees. He died of blood loss. Today villagers who see a dragon coming close or putting the move on livestock will typically yell and throw rocks. “People who live with dragons are used to living with dragons,” Ciofi says. “You might shoo a squirrel away that comes to steal your lunch. They treat dragons like that.” As for dragons that attack, the government has moved offenders away from villages, but the animals usually return. Not all encounters end badly. The first man to really sit with dragons for a spell was Walter Auffenberg, a curator at the Florida State Museum. In 1969 and ’70 he and his family camped on Komodo Island for 13 months, recording detailed observations of the animals’ every move. He authored an insightful book, The Behavioral Ecology of the Komodo Monitor. Auffenberg’s family was surprisingly relaxed about venturing afar to rough it among deadly animals. Packing up powdered milk and chocolate, his wife, Eleanor, told a local newspaper that her best friend thought she was crazy. “Crazy, maybe,” Eleanor replied.

“Worried, no.” Life in a big city would be more terrifying, she said. During the fieldwork Auffenberg wrote of curious dragons wandering into his blind. One tongue flicked his tape recorder, knife, and feet. To encourage the lizard to leave, he flicked back, tapping it on the head with his pencil. Apparently it worked. Another “stretched out in the shade … with his front leg draped over mine as he lay there half asleep.” Auffenberg was able to prod the animal to leave without incident. Back in the ’70s Auffenberg wasn’t that worried about the survival of the Komodo monitors. Today scientists ask: Can these dragons carry on? Dragon salvation relies heavily on the mundane issue of land management. On Flores, despite the nature reserves, locals set fires to clear land for gardens and pastures, breaking dragon habitat into small fragments. Also, some people still hunt the deer and pigs that dragons like, as do feral dogs. And scientists suspect the dogs may chase—and even kill—young dragons, which spend their first year in the treetops but then come down to earth.

So the Flores dragons are boxed in: by villages, farmland, rice fields, the sea, and the dogs. That means less living space and a decline in prey. And ultimately fewer dragons. If a changing climate affects the landscape, the dragons aren’t well equipped to cope. Ciofi and ecologist Tim Jessop of the University of Melbourne, who’s been researching dragons for the past decade, explain that with fewer than 5,000 animals scattered over a small number of islands, there’s reduced genetic diversity, which limits their ability to adapt. The dragons could improve their genetic pool by swimming from island to island to mate. But while they’re capable swimmers, strong currents and differences between island habitats discourage them. Besides, they’re homebodies. To learn more about dragons, Ciofi, Jessop, and their Indonesian colleagues have caught and tagged about a thousand and have DNA samples from 800. Their efforts have told them a lot about numbers, male-female ratios, survival rates, and breeding success—and how inbred the populations are. The genetic differences they find aren’t the kinds of things that show up on the outside—bigger teeth or fatter tails.

They’re the seemingly innocent codes within that dictate who survives and who doesn’t. Then comes the match game: figuring out how to shift animals from one group to another, making sure the newcomers aren’t related to each other. A more extreme approach, if numbers were to plummet, would be to ship in zoo animals to bolster the gene pool. In Indonesia Komodo dragons have been breeding in captivity since 1965. In 1992 the first baby dragon was born outside the homeland, at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Since then, breeding efforts have gone like gangbusters. Today about 400 dragons live in zoos worldwide. But playing God is controversial, Jessop notes: “We could be breaking the evolutionary integrity—messing with the natural path the animals are on. Some people are reluctant to do that.” Besides, programs that relocate local animals only “work about half the time.” Nor is the transition from zoo life to the wild an easy one. And there is no guarantee that putting adult dragons together will yield offspring—or that the dragons can survive long term in such unevenly protected habitat. Ciofi and his colleagues are respectfully pressing Indonesian officials and mustering support for dragon preservation.

They speak to islanders on Flores of the danger to dragons from habitat loss and the poaching of prey. They hope to better monitor protected areas and train rangers in dragon biology so they can offer information to scientists about how the animals are faring. Meanwhile tourists who come to see dragons—other than the lazy ones hanging around the ranger station—must be patient. The wilder animals don’t like to be found. During my two weeks on the islands I mostly chase after biologists on futile dragon hunts. Our hiking pace is set by young, fit Indonesians Deni Purwandana and Achmad Ariefiandy, who lead the Komodo Survival Program, established in 2007. Then comes Jessop, a giant of an Aussie whose single stride requires three of mine. A few nature reserve staffers and a couple of villagers, untroubled by heat and hills, round out the team. When Ciofi and I arrive on Flores, the team’s 26 traps have caught just four dragons (and many more dogs), down from 14 the same time the year before. But this may not indicate a reduced population. Cameras at the sites show the dragons sniffing traps, then deciding not to walk inside.

The elder I met, Caco, had told me villagers used to offer tree seeds, a local tree leaf, an egg, and the tobacco from one cigarette to lure dragons out of the hills. He presented me with seeds and a leaf. I am tempted to use them. Then on my second to last day, the stars align. There are three traps to check. The first round—nothing. On the next circuit we see pebbly skin through the gaps of trap number three. It’s just a little dragon, less than four feet nose to tail tip, perhaps three years old. Subtly pretty (if you keep an open mind), it has dark gray, yellow, and orange body scales and faded dark bands down the tail. I kneel for a better look through a hole in the metal; it peers back with one yellow-ringed eye. Then the dragon catchers remove it with hook and lasso, tape its mouth closed (for our protection), and gently but firmly tie its legs and arms to its body to keep it still. Next comes a flurry of activity.

The team quickly measures the captive, weighs it in a sling, and uses a microchip reader to search (in vain) for a tag beneath the skin that would represent a previous capture. Blood is drawn from the tail for genetic analysis; photos are snapped from every angle. The trappers who seek to preserve this ancient species speak matter-of-factly of the encounter: “It’s our job.” In less than 20 minutes off comes the mouth tape, and the animal is set free. It takes off like a shot into the woods, flinging dirt and rocks with madly scraping claws—the no-nonsense retreat of a real-life dragon. Jennifer S. Holland’s new book is Unlikely Loves, about odd animal duos. Stefano Unterthiner covered leaping langur monkeys for our August 2011 issue.

| Monitor Lizard (Varanus Indicus) - Animals - A-Z Animals Five groups that classify all living things Animalia A group of animals within the animal kingdom Chordata A group of animals within a pylum Reptilia A group of animals within a class Squamata A group of animals within an order Varanidae A group of animals within a family Varanus Comprised of the genus followed by the species Varanus Indicus The animal group that the species belongs to Reptile What kind of foods the animal eats Omnivore How long (L) or tall (H) the animal is 12-310cm (4.7-122in) The measurement of how heavy the animal is 1-166kg (2.2-366lbs) The fastest recorded speed of the animal 45km/h (28mph) How long the animal lives for 8-30 years Whether the animal is solitary or sociable Solitary The likelihood of the animal becoming extinct Threatened The colour of the animal's coat or markings Tan, Brown, Grey, Green The protective layer of the animal Scales The specific area where the animal lives River banks and coastal forests The average number of

 babies born at once 10 Other animals that hunt and eat the animal Human, Snakes, Wildcats Large, powerful body and sharp claws Monitor Lizard Location Monitor Lizard Monitor Lizards are large reptiles found in Africa and all across Asia , including the surrounding seas.

The monitor lizard is mainly found in jungle areas although some species of monitor lizard are water-bound. Some species of monitor lizard are thought to carry a fairly weak venom, for example, the komodo dragon which is the largest of the species . The komodo dragon is native to the small Indonesian island that it is named after and is the largest species of lizard in the world. According to legend, monitor lizards were a sign that there were crocodiles close by, possibly due to their standing on their hind legs to monitor their surroundings. Monitor lizards do this so that they are aware of any approaching predators. Although many species of monitor lizard are quite big, some species of monitor lizard are smaller than 20 cm in length. Monitor lizards are extremely versatile animals and monitor lizards adapt well into different environments. Most species of monitor lizard have a predominantly carnivorous diet , eating eggs, smaller reptiles , fish , birds and small mammals . Some species of monitor lizard also eat fruit and vegetation depending on where they live. Female monitor lizards bury their eggs in holes or hollow tree stumps that the female monitor lizard then covers with dirt in order to protect her eggs.

Monitor lizards can lay up to 30 eggs at a time, although many monitor lizards lay less, and only a lucky few of the monitor lizard babies tend to survive. Monitor lizards are thought to be fairly intelligent animals , with some people claiming that monitor lizards are able to recognise numbers up to six, therefore meaning that monitor lizards are able to count! Monitor lizards mainly use their intelligence in the wild by surveying areas for oncoming danger and for hunting their prey . Share This Article

Question: What 'dragon' is the world's largest lizard, named after its unique Indonesian island habitat?
Answer: Komodo