There are more than 3,000 species of lizards, but the Komodo dragon won the award for being the largest living lizard in the world, and it is a type of monitor lizard, and the Komodo dragon is an ancient
reptile with ancestors dating back more than 100 million years, and the Komodo dragon was unknown by scientists Westerners until 1912, and its common name came from rumors of a large, dragon-like lizard found in the Lesser Sunda Islands.
Komodo Dragon Habitat and Diet:
The Komodo dragon lives on just five islands in southeastern Indonesia.
The four islands of Indonesia within the Komodo National Park (Komodo, Rinca, Gili Montang, and Gili Dasami) and Flores Island.
The islands are volcanic in origin and rugged with hills and covered with both forests and savanna grasslands.
The Komodo dragon has the smallest habitat. than any large predator in the world, and it likes hot weather, with daytime temperatures during the dry season reaching 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) with humidity around 70 percent.
Some dragons dig shallow burrows to rest at night to keep warm and as a cool shelter from the heat of the day, and the Komodo dragon can either make its own burrow or use a pre-existing lizard burrow, and sometimes
these burrows can be seen along the slopes of dry riverbeds among the roots of trees, however, not
All Komodo dragons use burrows, and in fact, an adult male on Komodo Island often sleeps at night in an abandoned hut where visitors used to stay.
The adult Komodo dragon lives a leisurely life, and comes out of its hole to search for a sunny spot to warm up in, then begins searching for breakfast followed by a
nice long nap in the shade during the hottest part of the day, and after eating a meal in the late afternoon the dragon is ready to sleep and sleeps Quietly in its burrow until a new day begins, it is a solitary creature that lives and hunts alone.
An adult Komodo dragon eats any food available, however, its natural prey is Timur's deer.
The deer is very careful and agile, which requires the Komodo dragon to resort to ambush on tall grass in order to successfully hunt. And if the prey escapes, the Komodo dragon can rely on its long tongue to find its whereabouts even from a mile (1.6 kilometres) away.
The Komodo dragon also eats water buffaloes and wild boars as well as snakes and fish on the beach.
On the islands of Rinca and Komodo, pigs have become common in some areas and are now competing for food with large lizards.
The Komodo dragon may also be a carnivore of its kind. Fortunately, the young spend their lives in the trees, which It likely helps reduce the risk of predation from the adults.
In addition, Komodo dragon saliva contains potentially harmful bacteria that are believed to help weaken prey that are too large for a single dragon
to overcome. Some recent research indicates that Komodo dragons may also be toxic due to some properties of the ingredients in its saliva.
Whether or not he is toxic is subject to interpretation at this time, and it is too early to reach that conclusion until more research is done.
On the smaller islands of Gili Motang and Gili Dasami within the Komodo National Park, Komodo dragons were discovered to be significantly smaller
than those on the neighboring islands of Rinca and Flores, and it was found that these dragons are genetically related to those on neighboring islands, so what could explain this difference in size
A much lower density of Timor deer was also found on both islands, and it is believed that the dragons on these islands only adapt to the lack of food supplies by reducing body size in response to
the decreased availability of food, and that the Komodo dragon on these islands is very careful, and it is believed that eating the meat of its kind It is more of a threat to the young dragons here than on the big islands.
Komodo dragon social life
Like many reptiles, the number of female Komodo dragons that nest each year often changes, due to the availability of prey and the physical condition of the female.
Female dragons do not reproduce every year. During these resting years, females recover from the energy costs their bodies incur from producing eggs during their fertile years.
Female Komodo dragons use three different types of nests for their eggs: hillside nests, ground nests, and hillside nests built by the orange-legged scrub bird.
Females often dig bait nest chambers to discourage predators, including male Komodo dragons and other female dragons, from disturbing the nest sites. present when digging their nests.
The orange scrub bird builds nests made of leaves and debris, and forms a natural incubator from the heat generated by the decomposing leaves, and it is easy to distinguish the source of
the nest building activities as the birds nest from January to April while the female Komodo dragon digs the nest in August and September, and one study indicated
That the females of the Komodo dragon showed a remarkable preference for choosing plateau nests over hill and ground nests.
The Komodo dragon begins its life in an egg the size of a grapefruit, and the female lays between 15 and 30 eggs and sometimes guards her eggs for up to three months until they hatch. The adults eat it, and that's right.
Adult dragons consider the young to be easy meals. Fortunately for the young, the adults are too heavy to climb trees.
Komodo dragon in the zoo
The San Diego Zoo acquired its first two Komodo dragons in 1963, and they were thought to be a "pair" (male and female), but they were so small when they arrived that we can't be completely sure of that, and it wasn't until 1975 when they were sexually mature.
Hormonal analyzes revealed that they were females, so we started looking for a breeding male.
We planned to find an easy and safe way to determine the sex of the Komodo dragon at an early age. After nine months of blood sampling and ultrasound scans, we found that we could determine Successfully sexing two-year-old dragons, this knowledge is extremely useful to breeding programs.
This technique has also proven successful in determining the sex of all monitor lizards as well as Gila monsters and frilled lizards. Currently, the Komodo dragon is not being shown at the San Diego Zoo where it is getting a new home.
Is the Komodo dragon threatened with extinction
The wonderful Komodo dragon is weak, and some may think that the largest lizard in the world will not worry about its safety. One study estimated
the number of Komodo dragons within the Komodo National Park at 2405, and another study estimated between 3000 and 3100 individuals, and on
the largest island of Flores, which is located outside the park The national estimated the number of dragons from 300 to 500, and the Komodo dragons that live outside the national park are most at risk, due to
the fragmentation of habitats and the frequent burning of grasslands, and hunting deer Timor is the greatest risk to their survival, and on the island of Flores the habitat of the Komodo dragon is shrinking rapidly Because of the impact of a population of about 2 million.