King Komodo

The largest species of lizard is the Komodo dragon, a formidable carnivore found only on several Indonesian islands, including the island of Komodo which is where it gets its name.  It can grow up to almost 10 feet long and weigh between 150 to more than 300 pounds depending on whether its weighed before or after it's eaten!  A member of the monitor lizard family, its main diet is deer, wild boar, and goat, and even animals as large as a water buffalo, although it will eat just about anything. It also eats dead animals which it can smell up to several miles away by using its forked tongue - like a snake does!  As it walks, the Komodo swings his head from side to side helping detect potential prey.  Its vision and hearing is not as nearly acute as its sense of smell.

Source:  Wikipedia

It's an ambush hunter waiting for hours for unsuspecting prey to walk by.  But it can also move at more than 10 miles an hour if it needs to.  Considering its size and short stumpy legs that's fast.  Even if the prey gets away, if it's been bitten it hasn't really because the Komodo's saliva is filled with virulent bacteria and it will soon die of blood poisoning.  Researchers have found 57 different strains of bacteria in wild Komodo dragon saliva, including e coli, and while some bacteria takes 3 days to cover a petri dish, it only took 8 HOURS for Komodo dragon saliva!  And besides the bacteria, it has recently been discovered that Komodos also have venom glands, so in reality it is most likely a combination of the two that causes the death of the Komodo's victims.  Why the Komodos aren't affected by their own saliva or bites by other Komodos is still a mystery.

A Komodo has about 60 short sharp serrated teeth designed for tearing and cutting, similar to shark's teeth.  A Komodo can live up to 30 years or more and can go through four or five sets of teeth during its lifetime.

Source:  Wikipedia

A Komodo has a long tail, almost the length of its body.  It can be used to knock prey off their feet and for balance when reaching for prey or fighting another dragon.  It may also be used as a rudder as the Komodo is a good swimmer.  It has good sized claws which are perfect for digging the burrows it sleeps in.

Claws are also used by young Komodo dragons to climb trees where they live, eating bugs, other smaller reptiles, small mammals, and bird eggs.  This strategy is used to avoid being eaten by adult Komodo dragons.  (Smaller dragons make up about 10 percent of the larger Komodo's diet.)  Once they reach a length of about 4 feet long or reach a weight where climbing trees is not so easy any more, they try life on the ground.

Komodos can devour up to 80 percent of their body weight in one meal.  If resources are scarce, it can live on only 12 to 14 meals a year.  When a Komodo does find a meal, it will swallow it whole if possible, eating EVERYTHING including hooves, horns and bones, but will later regurgitate anything that it couldn't digest.  Now that's one BIG "hairball"!

Source:  Bagheera

There are four times as many male dragons as female dragons.  Why?  Generally, Komodos are solitary animals, only getting together for mating and eating.  However, a female can lay viable eggs without the help of a male, but every unfertilized egg that hatches is a male Komodo.

You might call the Komodo dragon a living dinosaur considering it's been around for about 40 million years!   As tough as they are though, they are still considered endangered because of loss of prey and habitat.  For videos, click here and here.