Komodo dragon

KOMODO DRAGONBy : Pamella A. Okonny

VARANUS KOMODOENSIS

Class: Reptilia. Genus: Varanus. Species: V. komodoensis Varanus means large lizards native of Asia and Africa

class of cold-blooded air-breathing vertebrates with completely ossified skeleton and a body usually covered

with scales or horny plates; once the dominant land animals

Range and Habitat

Komodo Dragons live in the Lesser Sunda Islands. They mostly live in wooded grasslands on the islands. They are the dominant predators on their island.

DIET

Komodo Dragons will eat almost anything, including carrion, deer, pigs, smaller dragons, and even large water buffalo and humans.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Reaching 10 feet (3 meters) in length and more than 300 pounds (136 kilograms), Komodo dragons are the heaviest lizards on Earth. They have long, flat heads with rounded snouts, scaly skin, bowed legs, and huge, muscular tails.

Breeding Information occurs between May and August, with the eggs laid in September. During this period,

males fight over females and territory by grappling with one another upon their hind legs with the loser eventually being pinned to the ground. These males may vomit or defecate when preparing for the fight. The winner of the fight will then flick his long tongue at the female to gain information about her receptivity. Females are antagonistic and resist with their claws and teeth during the early phases of courtship. Therefore, the male must fully restrain the female during coitus to avoid being hurt. Other courtship displays include males rubbing their chins on the female, hard scratches to the back, and licking.

. A Komodo dragon with its long tail and claws fully visible The female lays her eggs in burrows cut into the side of a hill or in the abandoned nesting mounds of the Orange-footed Scrub fowl (a mound builder or megapode), with a preference for the abandoned mounds. Clutches contain an average of 20 eggs which have an incubation period of 7–8 months. The female lies on the eggs to incubate and protect them until they hatch around April, at the end of the rainy season when insects are plentiful. Hatching is an exhausting effort for the pups, who break out of their eggshells with an egg tooth that falls off soon after. After cutting out the hatchlings may lie in their eggshells for hours before starting to dig out of the nest. They are born quite defenseless, and many are eaten by predators.

Special Behaviors or Unique Features

Komodo will only feel lucky briefly. Dragon saliva teems with over 50 strains of bacteria, and within 24 hours, the stricken creature usually dies of blood poisoning. Dragons calmly follow an escapee for miles as the bacteria takes effect, using their keen sense of smell to hone in on the corpse. A dragon can eat a whopping 80 percent of its body weight in a single feeding.

Komodo dragons can run up to 11 mph (18 kph) in short bursts

Interesting Facts There is a stable population of about 3,000 to 5,000 Komodo

dragons on the islands of Komodo, Gila Motang, Rinca, and Flores. However, a dearth of egg-laying females, poaching, human encroachment, and natural disasters has driven the species to endangered status.

There were once many Komodo dragons in the world, but their numbers are down to only a few thousand now. They have suffered from hunting by humans, as well as natural disasters, loss of habitat, and less available prey. They are considered an endangered species

These giant reptiles have been around for millions of years, but scientists didn't study them until about a hundred years ago. Wild Komodo dragons are found only on Indonesia's Lesser Sunda Islands

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