Too wonderful! How can you not love seeing these big, ugly
lizards, that
occasionally snack on people!
Picture 1 shows what it’s like approaching the dock by
tender from the ship. You land directly in the National Park and are
immediately met by a guide and ranger. You cannot wander the island on your
own—for obvious reasons! The ranger carries a long stick that’s forked on one
end (Picture 2). If a dragon starts to approach people, they first tap a tree
with the stick and if it keeps coming, they press the forked end into their
snout and that seems to be successful. We did not see a guard do that, but saw
several poised as a dragon approached us.
Technically, these are monitor lizards. If you read our blog
from Eden Australia, we showed a picture of a goanna lizard, which is a smaller
(5 feet) version of this. Komodo dragons are up to 12 feet for males and 10
feet for females and weigh up to 300 pounds. The ones we saw maxed out at about
8 feet. They have a very long white tongue, shown in Picture 3, which is a
sensory organ.
They lay eggs—15-20 at a time. The Mother digs a hole in the
ground, lays the eggs in the hole and then covers it with dirt. She then digs
several fake holes, disguised as egg nests, because other dragons have been
know to dig up and eat eggs. She guards the area for about 5 months and then
gets bored and leaves. The eggs hatch at 8-9 months. The babies, which are less
than a foot long, immediately climb trees to avoid adult dragons, who like to
eat the young! They search for a particular type of palm tree that has a hollow
core and houses other types of lizards and snakes, which provide food for the
baby for up to 5 years.
Pictures 4, 5 and 6 show some random shots of this lizard. Note the wound on the neck of number 6--made someone unhappy! We found 7 lizards, most at a watering hole. While a couple just laid there,
most were more active. Picture 7 shows a rear shot for completeness!
It appeared that several of these had recently eaten. The
distended stomach in Picture 8 is evidence. They eat deer, wild boar and water
buffalo—animals that are feisty and can be bigger than they are. The method of
hunting is interesting. They sneak up behind an animal and bite it. They have
venom- and bacteria-laden mouths that cause blood poisoning and eventually
death. The dragon has to be patient—it can take up to 2 weeks for the animal to
die, but death eventually occurs and a feeding frenzy among several dragons
begins. They can eat as seldom as every 1.5 months. They have been known to
attack and, at least a couple of times, eat people, but that is rare.
Pictures 9 and 10 show the only female we saw. How do we
know she’s a female? She’s prettier! Seriously, we couldn’t tell, but our guide
knew it was a girl.
Picture 11 was taken as we sailed away from the island—a few
of Indonesia’s more than 17,000 islands.
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