The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) is a member of the monitor lizard family, so named because the species are thought to monitor or warn of the presence of crocodiles. The komodo is the largest monitor lizard species, and it may be found in Asia, Africa, and Australia. The dragon is known among the locals as ora, or buaya darat (land crocodile).
Dragon-like fossils have been found dating back 130 million years. Since the Jurassic period, the species have been extinct everywhere save there. The lizard's existence was ensured by the area's seclusion and powerful ocean currents.
Since their discovery in 1912, the dragons, named by a Dutch scientist P.A Ouwens, have enticed visitors. Three years later, in 1915, Sultan Bima enacted legislation to safeguard the komodo dragon. Despite this, hunting continued until 1937, when the Dutch put an end to it. In the last 60 years, some 600 ora have been trapped, shot or embalmed for museums.
Now, the Bogor Wildlife Management Office has imposed a five-year ban on komodo slaughtered only for scientific purposes. Komodo, the world's most ferocious lizard, can shred deer, goats, and wild pigs apart with its saw-like fangs. The lizard's extremely developed slicing teeth, as well as its predatory habits, set it apart from other reptiles.
Komodo dragons can sprint up to 18 kilometers per hour by lifting their hefty tails and beliefs, but only for short distances. Dragons also enter the sea and swim up to 1,000 meters to offshore islets, sometimes against strong tidal currents. They can dive to four meter depths and effortlessly swim 100 meters when submerged.
The komodo dragon is one of the most intelligent reptiles on the planet, with remarkable senses of smell and touch. Only select zookeepers are able to recognize and obey them in captivity. Outside of Indonesia, only a few hundred examples of this endangered species can be found in zoos around the world, and if kept in captivity for lengthy periods of time, komodo become overweight and phlegmatic, and usually die from amoebic parasites within a few years.
Habitat
Any of the world's big predators has a smaller permanent habitat range than the komodo dragon. Their total area is slightly under 1,000 square kilometers, and they are restricted to the islands of Komodo, Padar, Rinca, Uwada, Sami, Gili motong, and western Flores.
Komodo Island is the world's largest and most intact komodo ecosystem. The overall number of lizards in the area is believed to be between 5,000 and 7,000. Density of the population. On Komodo, there are 17 lizards per square kilometer, while Padar, Rinca, and western Flores have six to seven lizards per square kilometer.
Komodo monitors prefer tunnels dug by nature along the sides of dry riverbeds or on the steep slopes of open hills, frequently hidden by overhanging vegetation, large rocks, or tree roots. The best places are known by Komodo residents.
During extremely hot days, the dragon seeks sanctuary in these holes; they are rarely used during the rainy season. In hot weather, burrows act as a heat sink, preserving the panting lizard's bodily water. When the temperature drops at night, burrows operate as insulated chambers.
The dragons, being cold-blooded, do not normally emerge from their holes until after 08.00 – 09.00, when the air begins to heat up. They are diurnal and retire to their burrows at 19.30. They sleep quite deeply.
Burrows are taken from rats or porcupines and are only 1.5 meters long on average. As a result, the reptile's head and shoulders frequently protrude from the opening, and their tails are bent like hairpins inside the tunnel. Several dragons may share the same burrows, and a burrow cluster might have up to 18 burrows.
Shape of the Body
A male at the St. Louis Zoo reached 3.13 meters from tail to snout, making him the world's longest specimen. Villagers in Flores' Lenteng district swear that 3.5-meter-long ora live nearby, and there have been ludicrous, unconfirmed reports of dragons up to 14.5 meters large throughout the years. Adults can weigh up to 150 kilograms, but most full-grown specimens are only 1.7 to 1.8 meters long and weigh around 35 kilograms. The average female is barely two-thirds the size of a guy.
The adult's finest protection and most dangerous weapon is the tail. An adult winds its tail like a snake and delivers strong strikes while running through the grass with its tail high off the ground, thrashing it about.
The lizard can scale rocky terrain and hold down carrion while ripping and tearing because of its broad, muscular front legs and massive claws. The dragons are incredible diggers, capable of digging a meter-deep hole in just an hour. They can readily dig under the walls to escape when trapped in stockades. The dragons begin to lose their skins in February and finish by the end of the month.
The most unexpected, fastest, and most tree climbers are the young dragons. They are sometimes seen perched in trees catching monkeys, and some can dwell in hollow trees.
Large male specimens feature yellowish-green markings on their snouts, and coloration changes from speckled, multihued, greenish-yellow subadult to normal dappled gray adults. The mature ora's clay hue camouflages it as it waits in ambush, while the baby ora's coloration shields them when they scamper through leafy branches.
Senses
Komodo dragons are primarily scent-oriented, however they can see well up to a distance of five to six meters. Despite popular assumption, dragons can hear reasonably well; they simply choose not to pay attention to noise unless it is related to food or danger.
Many pieces of information are transferred from lizard to lizard via scent: the larger dragons' highly odoriferous fecal pellets are frequently read by the smaller dragons, who halt along the road and conduct thorough olfactory exams.
Ora can track the spoor of a deer in the wild as well as any hunting dog, and a ripe putrefying carcass may draw among from 11 kilometers away. The reptile's lengthy tongue, forked and protruding like a snake's, is a smell and taste organ, flicking out and attaching fragrance samples' ' before eating. These carnivores also use their highly developed sense of smell to identify territorial boundaries.
Diet
Ora that have just hatched eat little lizards and insects. Shellfish, rodents, eels, geckos, sea turtle eggs, and bird eggs are all prey for subadults. Roe deer, crab-eating macaques, feral dogs, and wild boars are among the adult food sources. Water buffalo can be killed by large dragons that are 10 to 15 times their weight. Dragons consume almost anything they can catch or kill, including their own kind.
Preference is shown by carnivores towards pregnant hoofed animals. And are able to tell these females apart based on their scent. A dragon will wait beneath a foaling mare in Flores and Rinca Island to consume the newborn, leaving the mare with no choice but to kick the lizard as she gives birth. Not only are dragons fond of fetuses and their offspring after birth, but their harassment of the female often induces a miscarriage, leaving her virtually helpless and more vulnerable to attack.
Hunting
Deer and wild boar are ambushed by Komodo dragons along their victims' familiar pathways, either by lurking to the side and waiting, or by cunningly creeping up to within striking distance while the victim rests in the thickets.
Ora rarely hunt on open slopes due to a lack of cover. Dragons have also been reported to enter a town and take goats in broad daylight. Ora raids the community at night for goats or fish kept under houses, while being virtually primarily active during the day.
When dragons kneel down to the ground and hold their heads low, slightly inclined to one side, they establish an attack stance. Large ones frequently hit their prey with their tails, then grab the throat and head, fiercely pulling it from side to side. Although it is a common misconception that dragons inflict fatal bites, a large number of struck deer who manage to flee eventually succumb to enormous illnesses.
Dragons forage up to 10 kilometers every day, from sea level to 500 meters, through offshore islets, mangrove swamps, grass thickets, and even over reefs and bars, pursuing their prey. They eat in an inconsistent manner; it's either feast or famine.
Feeding
Varanids consume prey faster than any other large predator, including lions and crocodiles, with the exception of giant snakes. They have lateral rows of jagged teeth, serrated and curved with sharp points and wide bases, similar to curved scalpel blades, and are developed specifically for cutting into flesh. Dragons will eat horn, hooves, antlers, hair, and bones if they are hungry.
To trip out the intestines and stomach, they thrust their heads first into the stomachs of carcasses. Varanids are the only reptiles that split their food into portions before swallowing it, rocking back and forth while biting and bolting down each chunk once it has been sawed off the body.
A 40 kilogram ora can eat a 30 kg wild pig, devouring the hindquarters whole, but a 1,200 kg water buffalo takes several lizards three to five days to consume. Its snake-like jaws allow it to fit strange structures like horned heads and pelvic portions into their stomachs.
For holding down carrion, pulling off rotting hide, ripping under bellies, and digging out megapode nests and rodent burrows, the dragon's muscular front legs, keen claws, and thick bag legs are essential.
In comparison to other large carnivores across the world, Komodo dragons have the fewest carrion rivals. The amazing scavenger-predator will only share its carcass with flies, wild dogs, beetles, birds, and kites. A hostile and persistent boar can drive even the largest dragons away from a kill on a hot day.
Varanids may go for up to 1.5 months without drinking, and when they do, they plug their heads up to their eyeballs, gulp water, and then raise their heads like chickens to let the water go down their throats.
Reproduction And Hierarchy
A banquet of up to 20 ora, varying in size from juveniles to the largest adults, is frequent, with groups of three to four ora feeding together or eating carrion. Smaller varanids are only tolerated at this time. During eating, the behavior is quite hostile, with a clear pecking order.
The carcass, the best location around it, and most of the food are all taken by the larger, dominant male. He decides where the carcass will be moved and when it will be moved. The younger ora assists the dominant male in snapping ligaments and tendons, preventing him from consuming huge pieces of the body.
Dancing, yelling, posturing, and other prominent and unusual visual behavior are used by courting males to display themselves to females. Females follow suit, doing pushups, arching their backs, and bobbing their heads.
The courtship period lasts almost the entire year. Actual population occurs frequently near carrion and is often preceded by tongue flicks over the female's back or the male's jaws grabbing the female's neck skin.
During courting, females are particularly aggressive, biting the male who tries to mount her, sometimes seriously wounding or even killing him. To copulate successfully, a man must entirely dominate the female.
Two weeks later, the female digs a half-meter-deep hole in the sand beneath a live shrub or on a slope, then deposits the soft, smooth, leathery golfball-sized eggs. The young normally hatch in April or May after an eight-month incubation period. The male and female will occasionally eat part or all of a brood of eggs. The Komodo is maybe the only lizard that uses this strategy of population control.
Fighting
When battling, Komodo lizards use their wide jaws to attack and parry. This is referred to as "jaw fencing" by zoologists, and it is a common lizard behavior. They also bite, tear, paw, and shake their opponents, causing death in some cases.
When high-ranking ora approach carrion, younger generations of low-ranking ora frequently scatter into the underbrush. To avoid being attacked, smaller Komodo go through elaborate appeasement displays in front of larger dragons. And with good reason: just a few vertebrates have such a large size difference between juvenile and adult. The bigger the ora, the more probable he or she will attack and kill others.
Mortality
Ora have a maximum lifetime of 50 years in the wild and half that in captivity. The size of the reptiles is proportional to their age. Ora under one meter in length are preyed on by rats, dogs, cats, sea eagles, brahminy kites, osprey, and snakes, while kerbau, desert vipers, and wild boar can kill larger specimens.
Burrow collapse, becoming stuck in land depressions, lack of water, malnutrition, and poaching are among the causes of death for others.
The lizard's main competitors are humans and dogs; dogs chase deer and piglets in packs and even compete for carrion, whilst people living in the dragon's environment illegally poach roughly 150 deer each year.