Komodo Dragons are the biggest lizard on the planet. They are terrifying animals with a character for being powerful, angry and deadly Hunters. However as time has gone on science and research has shown us that they are not exactly the man eating beast, we once thought. Here are the top 10 things about Komodo Dragons.
1. Komodo Dragons are excellent swimmers
When you take a glance at Komodo dragon which weigh upto 90kg(pretty heavy) and 3 meters(oh! now i came to know how they are so much fearsome) in length, fully packed and playing around the land you wouldn't think they would be natural swimmers. However, Komodo Dragons much like most other reptiles are passionate swimmers. Komodo dragons lives on a series of five south-eastern Indonesian Island, Komodo dragon most often swim from island to island in search for food(meat). In fact they can swim for hours and have been seen miles Offshore.
2. Komodo Dragons can smell an animal from up to five miles away
Just like other reptiles, Komodo dragon can smell it's prey by using different neurological system than that of a human. Using their flickering forked tongue the pickup microscopic taste particles on the air literally tasting the air. When the Komodo dragon takes its tounge back into their mouth, the point fit into an organ which is named Jacobson's organ by the biologist and that is located on the upper part of its mouth. This organ processes the scent particles on the tongue which allowed the komodo dragon to pinpoint exactly what each particle is and where it is. For a Komodo dragon this way of smelling carrion is so refined that it can smell something that over five miles away and pinpoint where it is as you can imagine this is very useful mainly if they have to swim a couple of miles to get to their meal.
3. Komodo Dragons can eat 80% of their body weight in one sitting
Komodo dragon are undefined animals which shows that they will never stop getting bigger and bigger in length or weight for as long as they are between us. This is a very big part of why they have no natural predators with a big hunger and always being in a rush to eat. Komodo Dragons have been seen in the wild eating big meals in one go. With jaws that are highly elastic and can open very wide, they can easily swallow a big-sized piglet down. Komodo dragon can and will eat as much as 80% of its body weight in one go to. That is the same as a person eating about 260 big Macs in one go.
4. Komodo Dragons are actually Venomous
Due to an experimental study, conducted in the 1970 scientists have long believe that a Komodo dragon saliva contain a deadly poison of bacteria high enough to kill its Prey with just only one bite. However back in 2009 biochemist brian fry from the University of Queensland tested and checked this most accepted belief he pointed to discover exactly which micro-organisms would cause such a horrific death and was able to collect some swaps from the inside of several different Komodo Dragons mouth what brian fry found changed the popular perception of Komodo Dragons.
Whilst, there was a lot of bacteria within their mouth it was actually lower than most the mammalian mouths and there was nothing that would cause the rapid tissue disintegration of blood loss associated with Komodo Dragons fights.
Fry followed this up by doing MRI scans of Komodo dragon scales which showed two small Venom glands in lower jaw. Previously thought to be redundant and analysis of this on a captive Zoo animals showed their most certainly active. The Komodo dragon Venom found in this glands contain a few types of toxic proteins known to cause the exact effects that have been seen in animals eaten by Komodo Dragons.
5. Komodo dragon spin in their poop and climb trees to avoid being eaten
Komodo Dragons are infamous for not being choosy with what they eat and most of the time of an adult komodo wouldn't think twice about eating a child . So to stop this danger the young komodo dragons get up on the trees and become agile branch climbing buzzard till the point they grow large and big enough to not be threatened by other dragons. However this doesn't always work so an extra measure they make themselves as unappetizing as possible by rolling around in poop. This makes them smell so bad even the most starving dragons can't stomach them.
than that of a human. Using their flickering forked tongue the pickup microscopic taste particles on the air literally tasting the air. When the Komodo dragon draws its tounge back into its mouth, the prongs fit into an organ called the Jacobson's organ on the roof of its mouth. This organ processes the scent particles on the tongue which allowed the komodo dragon to pinpoint exactly what each particle is and where it is. For a Komodo dragon this way of smelling carrion is so refined that it can smell something that over five miles away and pinpoint where it is as you can imagine this is very useful mainly if they have to swim a couple of miles to get to their meal.
About Me
Umang is a student of geography pursuing bachelor's in geography who enjoys indulging his passion including reading geography books and writing geography articles. My goal is to make every post valuable and something I'd want to read. Its mostly a Educational blog, meant to inspire. You can find my videos on youtube (there's a link in the upper right to jump to them) but posts are almost about geography .Other than writing blog on geography i also do illustration on Instagram. Enjoy Umang
0 Comments