Komodo dragons are the largest lizards on Earth, reaching up to 10 feet in length and more than 300 pounds. They have long, flat heads, pointed snouts, bent legs, scaly skin, and massive, muscular tails.
For millions of years, Komodo dragons have been thriving in the harsh climate of the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia. They prefer the tropical forests of the islands, but they can be found all over the islands. Although they can walk up to seven miles a day, these athletic reptiles prefer to stay close to home, rarely venturing far from the valleys in which they hatched.
Female Komodo dragons give off a scent in their feces once a year, when they are ready to mate, for males to pursue. He scratches her back and licks her body when a male dragon spots a woman. They mate if she licks him back. Males often compete with each other to win mating rights often. Eight months later, pregnant females lay about 30 eggs, which they bury in the ground before they hatch.
Female Komodo dragons have other ways of reproducing when there are no males around: since they have both male and female sex chromosomes, female dragons can reproduce asexually in a process called parthenogenesis.
Komodo dragons can consume almost everything, including carriages, deer, pigs, smaller dragons, and even massive water buffaloes, as the dominant predators on the handful of islands they occupy. Komodo dragons rely on camouflage and patience while hunting, lying in wait for prey to pass by. The dragon springs, using its sharp claws and serrated, shark-like teeth to eviscerate its prey, when a victim ambles by.
The Komodo dragon has venom glands filled with toxins that lower blood pressure, cause major bleeding, avoid clotting, and trigger shock. Dragons bite down with serrated teeth and pull back with strong neck muscles, resulting in large gaping wounds. Then the venom speeds up the blood loss and sends the prey into shock.
Animals who escape from a Komodo's jaws can feel fortunate just momentarily. As the venom takes effect, dragons will calmly pursue an escapee for miles, using their acute sense of smell on the corpse to home in. In a single meal, a dragon will eat a whopping 80% of its body weight.
While asexual reproduction helps female Komodo dragons to replenish their population, it has a major downside, an evolutionary advantage: this method of reproduction only results in sons. The dearth within a group of other females has contributed to reports of inbreeding. The inability of the reptile to wander far from home exacerbates the problem as the population of the species decreases and fragments.
Humans have also posed a threat to the existence of the Komodo dragon. In order to clear it for other uses, people have burned the Komodo dragon's habitat, while poachers target this reptile and its prey. Tourists also offer food handouts and disrupt the mating process of the dragons, which led Indonesia's government to consider a temporary closure of Komodo Island to tourism, one of several on which they are found. But visitors are also important to conservation efforts, as they offer incentives for locals to help protect the Komodo dragon by providing an economic boost.
In 1980, Indonesia established Komodo National Park to protect the Komodo dragon and its habitat. This 700-square-mile refuge is also home to species such as the orange-footed scrub fowl and Timor deer, as well as a rich marine environment supporting whales, dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, corals, sponges, manta rays, and more than a thousand species of fish. Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, Komodo National Park has established patrols to prevent poaching. It also works to create awareness of the species with local communities and the value of protecting it.
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