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10 interesting facts about Komodo dragons
The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard species on the planet.
However, as time goes on, science and research have shown us that they are not exactly the cannibals we used to think.
Here are 10 facts about Komodo dragons!
Komodo dragons are excellent swimmers.
When you look at a Komodo dragon, weighing up to 198 lbs (90kg) and 10ft (3 meters) long, muscular and walking around on land, you wouldn't think they were born swimmers.
However, Komodo dragons - like most other reptiles - are very swimmers.
Living on a series of 5 islands southeast of Indonesia, Komodo dragons must regularly swim from island to island in search of food.
In fact, they could swim for hours and were spotted miles offshore.
Komodo dragons can smell rotting from up to five miles away.
Like other reptiles, Komodo dragons smell through their use of a sensory system that is different from the human sensory system.
Using their blinking tongue, they picked up microscopic flavor particles in the air - literally tasting the air.
When the Komodo dragon pulls its tongue back into its mouth, the prongs match an organ called Jacobson's Organ on its palate.
This organ processes the scent particles on the tongue, allowing the Komodo dragon to pinpoint exactly what and where each one is.
For a Komodo dragon, this way of stinking is so subtle that it can smell something dead over five miles and determine where it is.
As you can imagine, this is very useful especially if they have to swim a few miles to find their food!
Komodo dragons can eat 80% of their body weight in one sitting.
Komodo dragons are indeterminate, meaning they will not stop growing in length or weight until they are alive.
This is a large part of the reason why they do not have a natural predator.
With a great appetite and always in a hurry, the Komodo dragon has been discovered in the wild to eat huge meals at once.
With their very flexible and expansive jaws, they can easily swallow a medium sized piggy in one!
So it should come as no surprise that a Komodo dragon can - and will - eat up to 80% of its body weight in one go.
In a nutshell, it's like a person eating around 260 Big Macs in one go!
Komodo dragons actually have venom.
Due to an observational study carried out in the 1970s, scientists have long believed that Komodo dragon saliva contains a deadly bacteria powerful enough to kill its prey with a single bite.
However, in 2009, biochemist Brian Fry from the University of Queensland tested this widely accepted belief.
He aims to discover exactly which bacteria would cause such a dreadful death, and is able to collect several swabs from the inside of the mouths of several different Komodo dragons.
What Brian Fry found changed the popular perception of Komodo dragons.
Although there are a lot of bacteria in their mouths, it's actually lower than most mammalian mouths and nothing can cause rapid tissue breakdown or blood loss associated with the bite of
Fry followed this up with an MRI of the Komodo dragon's skull showing two tiny venom glands in his lower jaw.
Previously thought to be redundant, an analysis of these on a captive animal shows that they are most likely to be most active.
The Komodo dragon venom found in these glands contains some toxic protein, known to cause the exact effects seen in animals bitten by Komodo dragons.
Young Komodo dragons roll around in droppings and climb trees to avoid being eaten.
Komodo dragons are notorious for not being picky about what they eat, and often adult Komodo dragons will not think about eating their young.
So to counter this threat, young Komodo dragons move up the trees and become agile climbing predators until they grow big enough to not be intimidated by the other dragons.
However, this doesn't always work, so as a supplement, they make themselves as less attractive as possible by rolling around in the pile.
This makes them smell so bad that even the most ferocious dragons can't hurt their stomachs!
George H. W. Bush received a Komodo dragon as a gift.
About half of his four-year term, President Bush Sr. at that time was given a male Komodo dragon named Naga by the Indonesian government.
Despite the temptation to have him run in the Oval Office, Bush Sr.
Naga lived until the age of 24 and bred 32 young Komodo dragons.
He's one of Cincinnati Zoo's top attractions that attracts a million visitors a year - and he even went on a tour as a conservation officer back in 1995!
Female Komodo dragons can reproduce sexually and sexually.
In 2006, a female Komodo dragon named Flora at London's Chester Zoo laid 25 eggs.
11 of them are capable of hatching - after living in captivity alone and never having any contact with a male Komodo dragon.
This is because of something called "reproductive reproduction" and it works like this: there are no males around and instead of sperm, certain egg cells fertilize each other, meaning an embryo.
Komodo dragons are actually pretty fast.
Despite being giant beasts weighing up to 198 lbs and 10ft long, Komodo dragons can run at speeds of up to 13 mph (20 km / h) in sprinting.
This is something they use quite often when hunting in the wild.
All it needs is a bite from the Komodo dragon and it can wait for its prey to succumb to the venom.
Then all that is left is for the Komodo dragon to use its incredible sense of smell to spy on the flesh - though before the other Komodo dragons catch it!
Komodo dragons have only killed four people since the 1970s.
Despite their lousy representations of ferocious cannibals, Komodo dragons have hardly caused any fatalities.
The last death of a Komodo dragon occurred in 2009 when a man fell from an apple tree and passed out underneath it.
Two Komodo dragons attacked the unconscious man before the people nearby intervened.
However, it is not a myth that Komodo dragons will dig and eat buried human corpses.
As a result, natives who share their lands with Komodo dragons tend to pile rocks on the burial grounds of loved ones to prevent the dragons from starving gravesites.
However, you're more likely to die from taking a risky selfie, choking on peanuts or drowning in a bath than from being attacked by a Komodo dragon!
Komodo dragons love to play.
While they may look terrifying, these top predators are known to be playful in captivity.
The captured specimens have been seen playing with everyday objects like shoes and shovels, or toys like Frisbees and ropes!
A study was conducted on a detained Komodo dragon named Kraken at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park after it began acting oddly against zoo staff.
It was observed that she tugged at her shoelaces with her teeth or gently pulled things out of everyone's pockets.
The zoo's keepers decided to put items in her barn, like boxes, blankets, shoes and Frisbees - she also loves playing tug of war with her sitters!
Behavior observed in Kraken is understood to be playful due to the way she does not appear aggressive and does not do it for food.
She can also learn commands, such as going to a goalkeeper when she is whistled, and understanding it is mealtime when she sees a goalie wearing brightly colored gloves.
So you have, top ten facts about Komodo dragons.
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