The largest lizard name. The largest lizard in the world. Appearance description
Lizards have lived on Earth for millions of years. They managed to successfully adapt to the changing conditions of life on our planet, and today this species of animals can be found in different parts Sveta.
The most big lizard It lives on Komodo Island in Indonesia. This is a Komodo monitor lizard, which has a length of 3 meters with a body weight of up to 160 kg. This type of lizard is of particular interest to scientists. The locals call it the dragon of Komodo Island. He leads the ranking of the largest lizards.
1. Komodo Dragon or Komodo Island Dragon
Scientists discovered this species of lizard in 1912. It is believed that these giants used to live in Australia. Seismic activity and changing terrain prompted them to move to the islands of Indonesia. Adult monitor lizards grow up to 3 meters long and can weigh up to 160 kg.
Medium Komodo monitor lizards are up to 2 meters long. The skin of these animals is dark and mottled. They have powerful paws, tail, jaws and sharp teeth.
These lizards are excellent swimmers, climb trees and run at a speed of 20 km per hour. Komodo dragons scary predators having no enemies in nature. They prey on rodents, snakes, baby crocodile, deer, wild boar, goats, buffalo and even their relatives. These lizards do not disdain carrion and can tear up and eat the bodies of buried animals and people. Therefore, on the island of Komodo, heavy plates are installed on the graves.
There have been cases of these giants attacking people, although this rarely happens. Danger awaits children and livestock, which often become monitor lizard's dinner. The saliva of these "dragons" is toxic, so the victim weakens after a bite and slowly dies.
Komodo dragons arrange bloody fights for the female in mating season. She lays up to 20 eggs. Cubs are born small and can become prey for birds and snakes. The mother guards only the masonry. Then it all depends on the ability to hide, so the kids hide in the foliage.
The monitor lizard of Komodo Island is listed in the Red Book. Hunting for this lizard is prohibited. But locals offset the inconvenience of coexistence with this giant income from the tourism business. Despite the danger, tourists actively visit Komodo all year round.
This huge lizard lives in Australia. The length of her body is up to 2.5 meters, with a weight of 25 kg.
Lives in inaccessible areas, feeds on snakes, birds and small mammals (wallabies, wombats). When trying to hunt him, he attacks a person. A tail blow can knock a man to the ground or cripple a dog.
3. Striped monitor lizard
The body length of this giant is up to 250 cm. Weight is up to 20 kg. Only the Komodo dragon is heavier than it. Distributed in Sumatra, Java, in mainland India.
This is a semi-aquatic lizard. She is an excellent swimmer and diver. Digs burrows up to 10 meters deep and can climb trees. Eats fish, baby crocodile, turtle eggs, otters and even mammals (monkeys).
Lives in New Guinea. Body length up to 2 meters, weight up to 10 kg. This is a tree lizard. Uses its tail to grab onto tree branches, often rearing up on its hind legs to get its bearings.
It hunts birds, snakes, kangaroos, does not disdain carrion. It swallows small prey whole, and tears out pieces of meat from large prey. There were cases of attacks on humans and livestock.
Reaches body size up to 175 cm. Weight up to 7.2 kg. Digs burrows under tree roots or rocks. It can settle in a hollow, it climbs trees very well.
Runs and jumps fast. Lives in India and Pakistan. In northern Pakistan, it flows into hibernation. It feeds on rodents, snakes, eggs of birds, snakes and crocodiles.
Body length up to 125 cm. Weight up to 13 kg. Lives only on Galapagos Islands.
Digging holes for himself. It feeds on vegetation, picks up fallen fruits, flowers and sprouts of cacti (opuntia).
Inhabits the Galapagos Islands. Body length up to 140 cm. Weight up to 12 kg. It has a long tail, up to half of the body. Most of his time is at sea, he can swim and dive very well.
On land, it can be found on rocky shore, in swamps or mango thickets. It has an interesting pinkish skin color. It feeds on algae. Eggs are laid on the shore in warm sand.
The body length of the sailing lizard reaches 1 meter, it has a leather comb on its back. This lizard is omnivorous.
She eats fruits, flowers, leaves, insects and small mammals. The animal is not aggressive, so it often becomes a prey for local hunters. The eggs of the female are laid in the sand on the shore.
The largest individuals of chameleons grow up to 60 cm in length. These lizards have long legs with fingers adapted for grasping branches. Helps in this chameleon and twisted tail. On the round head of these animals there are small horns.
The chameleon has unusual eyes that can look in different directions and increase the view of the area when hunting. This lizard can change skin color. Color changes depend on air temperature, fear, anger, hunger and other emotions.
Animals are common in Africa, India, Sri Lanka, America and Southern Europe. Chameleons have a long tongue with an insect sucker. They also will not refuse to eat fruits and young greens.
There are up to 5,000 species of lizards on Earth, and all of them are admired. After all, one cannot but be surprised by the ability of these animals to autotomy, that is, in case of danger, to discard and grow a tail again. These creatures can change skin color to suit environment or disguised as a dried leaf. Basilisk can run on water, and Moloch can soak up water in the desert with all the skin of his body.
The long forked tongue helps the lizards hunt. Their adaptability, strength and ability to survive can be the envy of many animals. The largest lizard, the Kamoda monitor lizard, is an exceptional species that may still bring many surprises to scientists.
It turns out that in our time you can meet with the dragon. So the inhabitants of Komodo Island (in Indonesia) call the Komodo monitor lizard, which is the largest lizard in the world. This is not only a huge lizard, but also cruel predator, which instills fear in the islanders - the dragon can attack not only domestic animals, but also people, and children who are sitting or lying on the ground are especially vulnerable.
Excursion into history
The largest lizard in the world was first discovered by scientists at the beginning of the 20th century - descriptions of the dragon date back to 1912. It was at this time that the Komodo monitor lizard was found on Komodo Island. Actually, in the place of its habitat, the monitor lizard received the name Komodo. Scientists put forward a version that many thousands of years ago Komodo monitor lizards lived in Australia, and then moved to the islands located nearby. And today the dragon can be found not only on Komodo Island, but also on such islands: Flores, Ridge, Padar, Rincha. The number at the time of discovery of this species of lizards was not numerous, and today it is only decreasing. Therefore, due to the threat of extinction, Komodo monitor lizards are currently heavily protected and listed in the Red Book.
Description of the Komodo dragon
Adult monitor lizards can grow over 3 meters in length, and their weight can be up to 160 kg. However, such large individuals are not so common - as a rule, the length of these largest lizards in the world is 2 meters. Due to the huge size of the Komodo dragons, they have practically no enemies, however this applies to adult lizards, and small monitor lizards become a treat. birds of prey, snakes and even their relatives. Like any lizard, Komodo dragons have long tail. Their skin color is dark with small spots, but the young have a lighter color. These giant lizards have powerful jaws and are very sharp teeth because they are predators.
Only one huge head and an incredibly large toothy mouth, from which a long bifurcated tongue protrudes, can plunge any person into indescribable horror. Seeing this animal, you can imagine yourself in a completely different era, when there were a huge number of such creatures. It is amazing that nowadays komodo dragon retained its appearance almost unchanged.
Distinctive features of the Komodo dragon
The largest lizard in the world, despite its impressive size, can run very fast, however, over short distances. In addition, she knows how to swim and is even able to swim across to the island in the neighborhood. komodo dragon It can perfectly get food from trees, while standing on its hind legs. Young individuals, on the other hand, perfectly climb trees and spend on them a large number of time. So young monitor lizards are saved from predators that can attack them.
Komodo dragons have excellent hearing. sharp eyesight but their main sense organ is the sense of smell. Dragons have two poison glands and deadly saliva, thanks to which they kill their victims and get their own food.
Lifestyle
Komodo dragons hide in burrows that they make themselves at night. They go hunting early in the morning. During the day, they also hide from the rays of the scorching sun. They are cold-blooded creatures, so they do not tolerate sharp temperature fluctuations. As a rule, Komodo giant lizards are loners. They live in groups only during the breeding season.
How do they hunt and what do they eat?
Komodo monitor lizards feed on both small and large animals (including domestic ones), mainly eat carrion. Also, dragons, being able to climb trees well, steal bird eggs. Adult individuals in a hungry year even eat their younger relatives. Thanks to their keen sense of smell, these lizards are able to smell blood at a distance of up to 5 km.
As a rule, monitor lizards prey on big booty from an ambush. Attacking her, they bite the animal and follow her in anticipation of her death. Moreover, the monitor lizard is more helped not by poisonous glands, as was previously thought, but by saliva containing a large number of pathogenic bacteria. It is these bacteria that, getting into the blood of the victim, lead to her inevitable death. As a result, the victim of the monitor lizard loses consciousness, and then dies.
The monitor lizard instead of injecting poison with one blow rubs it into the wound of the victim. This method of hunting has helped monitor lizards to exist for many millennia. With the help of a bifurcated tongue, the Komodo monitor lizard is able to smell carrion from afar and is more likely to rush to the feast, in which other of its relatives take part. Moreover, eating meat poisoned by its own saliva does not harm them at all, since monitor lizards have excellent immunity. And the substances released during the decomposition of the killed prey of the monitor lizard only enrich the oral cavity of the giant lizard with new deadly bacteria.
Human danger
There have been cases when a Komodo monitor lizard attacked a person. The bite of this animal is very dangerous for humans, since the inflammatory process begins due to the influence of pathogenic bacteria. Especially monitor lizards can attack small children. However, it is believed that this is only when they confuse their usual food. However, after being bitten by this huge lizard it is important to contact immediately medical care, insofar as fatal outcome is 99 percent.
Not only living people suffer from Komodo monitor lizards, but also the dead - dragons dig up buried corpses and feed on them. Therefore, today the dead are buried under cast cement slabs.
Offspring
Male monitor lizards fight for their female every year. The monitor lizard that wins gets a female, who then lays 20 eggs. For eight months, she will ensure that no one eats the eggs, but the hatched young monitor lizards will be deprived of maternal care. They must take care of their own safety, so they often hide in trees or in shelters. Moreover, they often hide from representatives of their own species, who do not disdain young animals as their food.
He moves 4 times faster than a human, from the start developing a speed of 18 km / h. And this is with a three-meter body and tail - it is not for nothing that the Komodo monitor lizard has the status of the largest lizard in the world.
Reptiles do not need to eat regularly to survive - once a month is enough for this. She sees her victim for 300 meters. Hunting does not particularly exhaust itself - there is no prey on the horizon, it will ruin human burials.
Ora crocodile
The Komodo monitor lizard is a reptile from the squamous order. He received the status of the largest lizard in the world for his huge size:
- length - 2.5-3 m;
- weight - 100-150 kg.
Scientists discovered the reptile on Komodo Island only in 1912. A few years before, local residents have repeatedly said that they saw a dragon. They called him "ora" and "ground crocodile".
Appearance
Male monitor lizards are 1.5 times larger than females - the sex of reptiles can be identified only by this feature.
Lizards have long flattened heads, muzzles are elongated and rounded. The eyes are large, located on both sides of the head. The auricles are large, but monitor lizards have imperfect hearing - they cannot identify a low voice.
The jaws and throat of the largest lizard are so flexible that it swallows huge chunks of meat in a split second. The movable lower jaw and stomach expand so much that the adult swallows the pig completely. This feature explains the impressive weight of the reptiles.
But there is another feature - the monitor lizard will easily burp the contents of the stomach as soon as it senses danger. He will decrease in size and weight and hide from his pursuers.
The legs of the reptiles are half-bent - because of this, the bulky carcass seems to be pressed to the ground. Their claws are sharp, as befits predators. The large teeth are bent so as to dig deep into the victim and tear it to pieces.
The body of an adult monitor lizard is covered with bone chain mail - it gives the reptiles a resemblance to stones. In the younger generation of lizards, the color is brighter - green, blue, orange.
Food
The giant lizard is a predator, respectively, it feeds on the meat of its victims. She dominates, attacking any animals and does not disdain carrion. Their diet contains:
- pigs;
- deer;
- lizards;
- buffaloes.
Juveniles feed on insects and snakes, sometimes catching birds.
Hunting
Reptiles determine prey long before the start of the hunt, sniffing the air and analyzing the smells in it. To do this, nature has endowed predators with a forked tongue, with which they taste the air and feel the taste of an animal or carrion, their location.
Future prey at this time can be at a distance of up to 4 km from the monitor lizard - it will catch its smell and direction if the wind is fair.
Patience is one of the virtues of the heaviest lizard in the world. She lies in wait for prey for hours, sometimes for days. As soon as the animal is nearby, the reptile attacks it, interrupts its paws with its powerful tail.
The victim is doomed - an attempt to escape leads to the fact that a huge camouflage carcass will tear him apart until he goes limp. After that, the monitor lizard will exhale and open the belly of the prey to drain the blood. Only then will he begin to swallow the meat.
Toxicity
Single victims manage to escape, but they do not live long. There are more than 50 types of bacteria in the saliva of reptiles, and the jaw glands are poisonous. When a giant lizard attacks a pig or other artiodactyls, a secret is released into its saliva. The protein in the composition of the secret is toxic - it paralyzes muscles, disrupts blood clotting, and sharply reduces pressure and body temperature.
The animal suffers from several hours to several days, depending on immunity and the degree of blood infection, and then dies. Varan all this time runs in the wake of his sense of smell for the victim. As soon as she dies, he consumes the carrion. Not even a tenth of the carcass remains - the stomach of reptiles is designed in such a way that it easily digests bones and skin.
reproduction
The mating season for the largest lizards begins in May and ends in August. Two males can fight for a female - she goes to the winner. After mating games the female lays up to 30 eggs, while the male guards the territory.
Monitor lizards are born weighing about 100 g and no more than 40 cm long. For the first 4 years they live on trees, fleeing from predators. Their parents may be among the latter, because there is no evidence that adult reptiles take care of their offspring.
The young individual, sensing danger, makes himself tasteless to the lizards. To do this, she collapses in her own feces - known fact that monitor lizards avoid their excrement.
Where do they live?
Reptiles live on Komodo and 4 neighboring islands. They are comfortable in hardwood and tropical forests, and reptiles do not tolerate heat. At temperatures above +36 degrees, they hide in burrows. In burrows, they warm themselves if the temperature drops below + 33-34 degrees.
Giant lizards avoid meeting people, and people are forbidden to hunt them, because exotic reptiles are under state protection.
Komodo or giant Indonesian monitor is considered the most large lizard in the world. In some countries it is called a dragon, which, in general, is not a mistake.
The length of adults can be about 70 kg, but in captivity they can reach even large sizes. According to Western sources, the largest individual encountered in the wild weighed as much as 166 kilograms, and its length reached 313 centimeters! The color of the lizards is dark brown with speckles, but in young animals it is somewhat brighter.
You can meet this reptile on the following islands of Indonesia: Flores, Jili Motang, Komodo and Rincha. Total individuals is slightly more than 5000 copies. Scientists believe that this species once lived in Australia, but then moved to the nearest islands. It happened many thousands of years ago.
As a rule, monitor lizards are active only during the day, hiding in shelters at night. But even in the daytime, they prefer to be in the shade, hiding from the scorching sun. The animal lives in savannahs, dry tropical forests and arid plains. Swims well, willingly enters sea water and even able to swim across to a neighboring island. Despite the seeming immobility, the dragon is capable of reaching speeds of up to 20 km / h, however, at short distances. In addition, it is able to get food from trees, standing on its hind legs. Juveniles, on the other hand, perfectly climb trees, spending a lot of time there. Interestingly, they have no enemies, except that snakes and some birds of prey prey on young individuals.
Monitor lizards can eat a wide variety of animals. So, they can eat both insects and rodents, as well as large animals, such as horses or buffaloes. At the same time, they have developed cannibalism, especially in times of famine. Adult monitor lizards usually hunt large prey from ambush. Knocking her down, the reptile immediately bites its prey. As a rule, after this, the damaged animal gets up and leaves. However, after a while, he will still die, because the monitor lizard brought him poison and a lot of bacteria in the wound. After about three weeks, a bitten, say, buffalo dies of blood poisoning. The lizard feels the smell of carrion at a great distance and immediately runs to feed. Other representatives of this species also flock here, and fights often occur between them. By the way, adults feed mainly only on carrion.
The Komodo dragon is dangerous to humans because inflammation, sepsis, begins after a bite. Scientists have long believed that the problem is in the bacteria that are in oral cavity animal. This is true and in total about 57 different strains of bacteria have been found. However, only a few years ago, experts found out that the dragon's mouth also has two poisonous glands, which are located in the lower part of the jaw. The venom itself contains toxic proteins that lower blood pressure, paralyze muscles, develop hypothermia, lead to a state of shock and cause unconsciousness in the bitten person.
In general, this type of monitor lizard is not so dangerous for humans, although attacks have been recorded far more than once. Apparently, the animal simply confuses people with its usual food. Since their bites are dangerous, you should immediately seek medical help, otherwise a fatal outcome is 99% possible. It is also worth noting that the lizard smells rot or blood at a distance of up to five kilometers, so if you have a wound, then it is better not to visit the island. This fully applies to women who have begun menstruation. And local residents suffer from reptiles, or rather those whom they buried - monitor lizards dig up buried corpses and feed on them. Now the dead are kept using dense cast cement slabs.