Komodo dragon

From Free net encyclopedia

{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Komodo dragon | status = Conservation status: Vulnerable | image = Varanus komodoensis1.jpg | image_width = 250px | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Reptilia | ordo = Squamata | subordo = Sauria | familia = Varanidae | genus = Varanus | species = V. komodoensis | binomial = Varanus komodoensis | binomial_authority = Ouwens, 1912 }}

The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) is the largest lizard in the world, growing to an average length of 2-3 meters (10 feet). In the wild large adults tend to weigh around 70kg (154 pounds). Captive specimens often weigh more. The largest verified specimen was 3.13 meters (10 feet 3 inches) long and weighed 166kg (365 pounds) including undigested food. [1] It is a member of the monitor lizard family, Varanidae, and inhabits various islands in Indonesia. The Papua monitor, Varanus salvadorii may surpass the Komodo in length but it is slimmer and weighs less. [2]

Sightings of the Komodo dragon were first reported to Europeans in 1910. Widespread knowledge came after 1912, in which Peter Ouwens, the director of the Zoological Museum at Bogor, Java, published a paper on the topic. In 1980 the Komodo National Park was founded to help protect their population.

1 Diet and feeding
2 Population
3 Reproduction
4 Recent Developments
5 Media
6 See also
7 References and links

[edit]

Diet and feeding

Komodo Dragons are carnivorous. Although they seem to like dead prey, studies show that they also hunt live prey, with a stealthy approach followed by a sudden short charge, during which they can run briefly at speeds up to 20 km/h (~13 mi/h). Komodo Dragons have not been traditionally considered to be venomous, but the serations along their teeth create an ideal niche for over 50 different strains of bacteria. If their initial bite does not kill the prey, and it escapes, the deadly infections caused by the bacteria living in the Dragon's teeth kill it within a week. Then the Komodo Dragon descends upon its victim by identifying its stench to feed on its dead flesh. The Komodo Dragon also has large claws that when they are younger can be used to climb trees, but when they are older can be used as weapons.

The Komodo dragon's prey is wide ranging, and includes wild pigs, goats, deer, and water buffaloes. In the wild they have also been observed to eat other young Komodo dragons. Occasionally they have been known to eat humans and human corpses. Over a dozen human deaths have been attributed to dragon bites in the last century, though there are reports of survivors of the resulting septicemia.

[edit]

Population

There are approximately 6,000 living Komodo dragons, restricted to the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia, including the islands of Komodo (1,700), Rinca (1,300), Gili Motang (100) and Flores (maybe 2,000).

[edit]

Reproduction

Mating occurs between May and August, with the eggs laid in September. The female lays her eggs in the ground or in tree hollows, which lends them protection. Clutches usually contain an average of 20 eggs, and have an incubation period of 7 months. However, after the hatchlings are born, they are generally defenceless and many do not survive. Young Komodo dragons generally spend their first few years living in trees where they have a higher rate of survival. Komodo dragons take around five years to mature, growing to 2 metres in length, and they can live for up to 30 years.

[edit]

Recent Developments

Recently, new research using DNA analysis and other techniques at the University of Melbourne has questioned conventional wisdom and suggests that Komodo Dragons and many other lizards are indeed venomous and properly belong to a "venom clade" called Toxicofera. The new research calls into question the traditional view of squamata evolution, and the DNA evidence now appears to indicate that modern lizards and snakes share an evolutionary ancestry that dates back more than 200 million years. This information has therefore caused many biologists to question the current classificiation of species in the squamata order.

[edit]