Komodo dragon. Lifestyle and habitat of the Komodo dragon. Dragons of Komodo Island - how a strategy in hunting helps to win a deadly fight Monitor lizard habitat on the map
komodo dragon(also called Komodo dragon, giant Indonesian monitor lizard) is the largest reptile in the world, as well as one of the most effective "killers" in the animal kingdom. Australia is the birthplace of these largest lizards, but the name was attached to them because of Komodo Island, where they were probably first discovered, now about 1600 individuals live there. Also, these animals have been seen on nearby islands from Komodo Island. These Indonesian islands include: Gili Motang Island, Flores Island, Rinca Island. Total population There are about 5,000 Komodo monitor lizards.
Physical Description komodo dragon
Komodo dragons have long tails, strong and agile necks, and strong limbs. Adult Komodo dragons are almost stone in color. Growing monitor lizards may have more bright colors. Their tongues are yellow and forked, befitting their draconian name.
The muscles of the jaws and throat of the monitor lizard allow him to swallow huge pieces of meat with amazing speed. Several movable joints, such as the intramandibular loop, allow the mandible to be opened unusually wide. The stomach expands easily, allowing adults to consume up to 80 percent of their body weight in a single meal, which likely explains some of the exaggerated claims for the huge weight of the ingested creature. When a Komodo dragon feels threatened, it may empty its stomach contents to reduce its weight and escape.
Although males tend to grow more large sizes and heavier than females, there are no obvious morphological differences between the sexes. However, there is indeed one slight difference: a slight difference in weight distribution only in the anterior part of the cloaca. Mating Komodo dragons remains a problem for researchers, as the dragons themselves seem to have some trouble figuring out who is who.
Dimensions
The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard on Earth. Some recorded specimens reached a length of 3.13 meters (10.3 ft) and weighed 166 kg (366 lb). The largest wild Komodo monitors typically weigh around 70 kg (154 lb).
Habitat
The habitat of Komodo dragons is limited to a few Indonesian islands, the Lesser Sunda Islands, which include Rinca, Padar and Flores, and of course Komodo Island. They live in the forests of the tropical savannah, but are widely found on the islands, from the beach to the tops of the mountains.
Food habits
Their eyes can see objects as far away as 300 meters (985 feet), so vision does play an important role in their hunting, especially since their eyes are more focused on movement than on various stationary objects. Their retina contains only cones, so they are able to see colors but have poor vision in dim light. They have a much smaller auditory range than humans. As a result, the animal cannot hear sounds such as a low-pitched voice and a high-pitched screech.
Sight and hearing are useful, but for the Komodo dragon, smell is its main food detector. The lizard feels the same way as the snake does. He uses his long yellow forked tongue to sample the air, after which he sticks the two tips of the tongue into the roof of the mouth, where they come into contact with Jacobson's organ. Chemical "smell" analyzers recognize the molecules present in the air. If there is a higher concentration on the left side of the tongue tip than on the right side, the Komodo dragon knows that prey is approaching from the left. This system, along with a swaying gait where the head swings from side to side, helps the monitor monitor the presence and direction of scented carrion, up to 4 km (2.5 miles) away, when there is wind.
When the Komodo dragon hunts and catches its prey, such as deer, it attacks the legs first, throwing the deer off balance. When dealing with smaller prey, it can pounce right on the neck. The basic strategy of the monitor lizard is simple: try to lay the prey on the ground and tear it to pieces. Strong muscles and powerful claws help him in this, but the teeth of the Komodo dragon are his most dangerous weapon. They are large, curved and jagged, and are capable of tearing flesh with high efficiency. If the deer cannot immediately escape, the Komodo dragon will continue to tear it apart. After making sure that his prey is incapacitated, the monitor lizard for a while short rest can stop its attack. At this time, the deer will be seriously injured and in shock. Then the lizard delivers the final blow, an attack on the stomach. The deer quickly bleeds out and dies, the Komodo dragon begins to eat it.
Bits of meat, either fresh prey or carrion, are stuck in the notches of his teeth from the last meal. This protein-rich residue sustains life a large number bacteria. About 50 different bacterial strains have been found, at least seven of which are septic-like. If the victim somehow escapes and escapes his death upon first encounter, there is a chance that his escape will be short-lived. Infections transmitted by the bite of a Komodo monitor lizard will kill the victim in less than a week. In addition to bacteria in their saliva, researchers have recently documented that Komodo dragons do have venom glands in their lower jaws. Apart from being harmed by the bacteria present in their saliva, their venom prevents the blood from clotting.
Video. How do Komodo dragons hunt?
The bite of a monitor lizard is not fatal to other Komodo dragons. It is believed that monitor lizards wounded by their comrades in battle are not affected by deadly bacteria and poison. Scientists are looking for antibodies in the blood of Komodo monitor lizards that could help keep an infected victim alive.
Large carnivorous mammals such as lions typically leave 25 to 30 percent of a carcass uneaten: gut contents, skinned skeleton and hooves. Komodo dragons eat much more efficiently, leaving only about 12 percent of the prey. They eat bones, hooves and even hide. They also eat the intestines, but only after they have vigorously torn them open to gut the contents.
Komodo dragons eat almost any kind of meat. They burrow through rotten carcasses and prey on animals ranging in size from small rodents to large buffaloes. Juveniles mainly feed on small lizards, geckos and insects. They are tertiary predators (predator at the top the food chain) and cannibals. They can detect carrion from a considerable distance, about 4 km (2.5 mi), and actively search for it. When hunting, the Komodo dragon is near the trails, where it waits for a deer or wild boar to pass by. It then attacks the prey, most attempts fail, causing the animal to escape. However, if the monitor lizard manages to bite the prey, the toxic bacteria and venom in the saliva will kill the prey in the next few days. After the prey dies, it can take up to four days for the animal to find dead body using your powerful sense of smell. As a rule, after the murder, many Komodo monitor lizards resort to a feast and very little remains of the carcass of the killed animal.
At the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Komodo dragons are fed weekly with rodents, chickens and rabbits. From time to time they get fish.
social structure
Since the large Komodo dragons eat the young, the young are often shed in faeces, thereby dampening odors in order to large monitor lizards couldn't smell them.
Reproduction and development
Most mating occurs from May to August. In a group gathered around carrion, there is an opportunity for courtship. Dominant males may be drawn into ritual fights in search of females. Using their tails for support, they wrestle in an upright position, grabbing each other with their front legs, with which they try to throw the opponent to the ground. Blood, as a rule, changes everything and the one who let it out either continues to fight, or remains submissive and motionless.
The female Komodo dragon lays about 30 eggs. Delaying styling can help avoid the dry season's brutal hot months. In addition, unfertilized eggs may be given a second chance at subsequent mating. The female lays her eggs in dug holes in mountain slopes or in the nests of bigfoot, a chicken-like bird that builds nests of earth mixed with branches that can be up to 1 meter (3 ft) high and 3 meters (10 ft) wide. During the maturation of eggs (about nine months), females can lie on the nests, protecting their future offspring. There is no evidence, but the parents of the hatched Komodo monitor lizards do not participate in their care in any way.
Cubs weigh less than 100 g (3.5 oz) and average 40 centimeters (16 in) in length. Their first years are full of danger and they often fall prey to predators, including their fellows. They feed on a varied diet of insects, small lizards, snakes and birds. If they reach the age of five, they can weigh 25 kg (55 lb) and be up to 2 meters (6.5 ft) long. By this time they are moving to more big booty, such as rodents, monkeys, goats, wild boars and the most popular Komodo dragon food, deer. Slow growth continues throughout their life, which can last over 30 years.
Rest habits
They escape the heat during the day and seek shelter at night in burrows that are slightly larger than they are.
Lifespan
In the wild, Komodo dragons live for about 30 years, but scientists are still studying this.
The study that established how the Komodo dragon kills its prey
Researchers at the University of Melbourne in Australia have found that the secret to predatory success lies in its amazing poison.
Until now, it was believed that the bite of the Komodo monster is contagious due to some bacteria contained in its mouth. Due to the lightning-fast microbial attack spreading throughout the body of the victim, the bitten animal soon died and the monitor lizard had only to wait and find the victim by its smell. Having waited for the death of the animal or the moment when it was greatly weakened and could not defend itself, the monitor lizard proceeded to the meal.
But Brian Fry and his team disproved this hypothesis, discovering venom glands in the animal's skull causing severe paralysis in those bitten by the reptile. After studying the poison, scientists found that it dilates blood vessels and prevents blood from clotting, causing the victim to "shock". The bite of the Komodo monster is much weaker than that of a crocodile, but their prey soon dies due to blood loss caused by a fatal powerful poison that prevent blood clotting.
Fry also studied the fossils of an extinct giant monitor lizard known as Megalania (Varanus prisca) to find out if this species had venom glands. Their results, published in March 2009 in the American journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Russian Proceedings National Academy Sciences), showed that this lizard, reaching a length of seven meters, was one of the largest poisonous animals that existed on Earth.
Photo portrait of Komodo dragon
Mouth of Komodo dragon
Varan next to his victim
Latest famous cases Komodo dragon attacks on humans
In 2007, an eight-year-old boy was killed by a Komodo dragon, the first recorded fatal attack over the past 30 years. The attack happened in March during the dry season, so keepers speculate that the lizard may have been particularly hungry given that the pools have dried up and the prey that gathers there has stopped coming to them. The boy was attacked by a Komodo dragon as he went into the bushes to urinate, local media reported.
The boy's uncle came running and started throwing stones at the lizard until it released his nephew. Anyway, the boy died from heavy bleeding from his torso, his uncle described that the boy had two bites.
In 2008, three Britons, Kathleen Mitchinson, Charlotte Allyn and James Manning, were forced to throw rocks to ward off Komodo dragons when they ran aground on the uninhabited island of Rinca in eastern Indonesia. They managed to induce fear in animals. But Anwar was not so lucky.
In 2008, a group of scuba divers on a boat, due to the strong Flores Current, were pushed far from their original dive point. After spending 10 hours spinning at high tide, around midnight, the group made it to the beach, which seemed to be a desert island, about 25 miles from where they started ordeal. However, their troubles didn't end there. They ended up on Rinca Island, where it is estimated that there are about 1,300 Komodo monitor lizards.
The attacks began almost immediately. The merciless lizard repeatedly attacked the Swede, biting the diver's belt. She chewed on her belt while other divers threw rocks at her head. For two days and nights, the injured divers battled the monitor lizards and the tropical heat, scraping the remaining shellfish off the rocks and eating them raw. Finally, the Indonesian rescue crew spotted a spotted orange divers' emergency buoy placed on the rocks. Although the group of divers were shocked and recuperated at a local hospital on the island of Flores, they still celebrated their survival in a city bar.
In March 2009, police sergeant Cosmas Jalang reported that on Komodo Island, 31-year-old apple picker Muhamad Anwar received "terrible injuries". "He was working on a tree when he slipped and fell," Sergeant Jalang said. He was immobilized, lay on the ground for a short time, and then two monitor lizards attacked him. "They are opportunistic predators and he didn't stand a chance."
Miss Theresia Tava, who worked nearby and filmed the shock after seeing the attack, said: “He was bleeding all over his body. When he fell, scarcely a minute had passed before the monitor lizards were on him. They just bit and bit and bit, it was terrible. They bit his arms, torso, legs and neck.”
A speedboat took Anwar to the nearby island of Flores, but the doctors at the clinic on Flores Island were unable to save Anwar's life.
Attacks on humans by Komodo monitor lizards, which number fewer than 4,000 in the wild, are extremely rare, but keepers say the number of such incidents is similar last years increased.
In 2017, in Thailand, giant monitor lizards almost ate the body of a tourist. In late April, an investigation was launched into the death of 30-year-old Belgian tourist Elisa Dallemange, whose remains were found on Koh Tao on April 28. The police told the relatives of the deceased that she had committed suicide, but Eliza's family did not believe it.
The girl's body was so badly torn apart by giant monitor lizards (not Komodo monitors, giant monitors are the third largest after Komodo and striped monitors) that it could only be identified with the help of a dental examination. The girl's parents reported that recent months she often traveled the world, practiced meditation and studied yoga. AT last time(April 17), when a Belgian contacted her relatives via Skype a few days before her death, the girl was in high spirits, she said that she was very happy to exist in unity with nature on an "island of paradise".
Her mother said: “Too many things show us that someone is involved. The police told us that Elise hanged herself in the jungle. I cannot accept that my daughter killed herself." Perhaps Eliza's parents' suspicions may make sense, since no suicide note was found near the girl's body. Journalists believe that the Thai police will not reveal the true cause of death of a foreigner, so as not to scare away tourists. From 2014 to 2017, seven people died on Koh Tao. All of them became victims of lizards, which can reach three meters in length. Their bite is toxic and often fatal.
Below is a case where a monitor lizard attacked a girl. It was not a Komodo monitor lizard, this emphasizes the fact that even a less intimidating monitor lizard is capable of inflicting wounds on a person.
Goanna grabbed the leg of an 8-year-old girl
On January 24, 2019, a young girl was rushed to the hospital after she was bitten by a huge goanna on a beach in Queensland. An eight-year-old girl was left with a 'frightening' gash on her leg after it took two people to free her from a lizard's jaws at a campsite on the island of South Stradbroke.
A photo. Snake catcher Tony Harrison with a goanna who attacked an 8-year-old girl
"It was a very disturbing incident," Queensland Ambulance Chief Inspector Janey Shearman told reporters. “While walking around the campsite, she was attacked by a goanna, which made a rather nasty cut. It was quite difficult to remove the goanna from the child, and it took a couple of people to remove it from the leg.
When the girl was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital to be treated for a gash in her leg, Shearman described the attack as "wild".
Experts say goanna bites can be dangerous because carnivores feed on carrion, and toxic bacteria in the mouth can cause pain, swelling, and prolonged bleeding caused by bites.
Below you can see documentary about the investigation of the attacks of Komodo monitor lizards on people called: "In the mouth of the dragon." The film investigates the case when a boy named Mansoor on Komodo Island was attacked by a Komodo monitor lizard. It was only thanks to his uncle Jafar's quick reaction that the Komodo dragon abandoned its prey and disappeared from view, but the worst was yet to come. The boy died from blood loss in just 30 minutes. The film also mentions a case that happened in 1974 with the famous German hunter, Baron Rudolf von Reding, who was eaten by a Komodo dragon during a walk. And also there is a story of the head of the pier, Yvon Pariman, who was attacked by a monitor lizard when he lay down to rest on a bed with socks in his house (a Komodo dragon grabbed his leg with socks). Yvon was lucky, despite his wounds and fever, he survived.
Indonesian Komodo island is interesting not only for its nature, but also for its animals: among the tropical jungle of this island, real " dragons»…
Such " the Dragon"reaches a length of 4-5 meters, its weight ranges from 150 to 200 kilograms. These are the largest individuals. The Indonesians themselves call the "dragon" " land crocodile». 
komodo dragon is a diurnal animal, it does not hunt at night. The monitor lizard is omnivorous, it can easily eat a gecko, bird eggs, a snake, catch a gaping bird. Local residents say that the monitor lizard drags sheep, attacks buffalo and wild pigs. Cases are known when komodo dragon attacked a victim weighing up to 750 kilograms. In order to eat such a huge animal, the “dragon” bit the tendons, thereby immobilizing the victim, and then chopped the unfortunate creature with its iron jaws. Once a monitor lizard swallowed a furiously squealing dog... 
Here on Komodo island, nature dictates its own rules, dividing the year into dry and wet seasons. In the dry season, the monitor lizard has to adhere to the "fast", but in the rainy season, the "dragon" does not deny itself anything. komodo dragon does not tolerate heat well, his body does not have sweat glands. And if the temperature of the animal exceeds 42.7 degrees Celsius, the monitor lizard will die from heatstroke. 
Long tongue endowed komodo dragon- This is a very important olfactory organ, like our nose. By sticking out its tongue, the monitor lizard picks up odors. The tactility of the monitor lizard's tongue is not inferior to the sensitivity of smell in dogs. Hungry "dragon" is able to track down the victim on a single trace left by the animal a few hours ago.
juveniles komodo dragon painted in dark grey. Orange-red stripes-rings are located throughout the body of the animal. With age, the color of the monitor lizard changes, " the Dragon» acquires an even dark color.
Young monitor lizards, up to a year old, are small: their length reaches one meter. By the end of the first year of life, the monitor lizard already begins to hunt. Kids train on chickens, rodents, frogs, grasshoppers, crabs and the most harmless - snails. The matured "dragon" begins to hunt larger prey: goats, horses, cows, sometimes people. The monitor lizard gets close to its prey and attacks with lightning speed. Then he knocks the animal to the ground and tries to stun it as quickly as possible. In the event of an attack on a person, the monitor lizard first bites off the legs, then tears the body apart. 
adults komodo dragon they eat their prey in exactly the same way - spreading the victim to pieces. After the victim of the monitor lizard is killed, the "dragon" rips open the belly and within twenty-five minutes eats the insides of the animal. The monitor lizard eats meat in large pieces, swallowing it along with the bones. To quickly pass food, the monitor lizard constantly throws its head up.
Locals tell how one day, while eating a deer, a monitor lizard pushed the animal's leg down his throat until he felt that it was stuck. After that, the beast made a sound similar to a rumble and began to violently shake its head, while falling on its front paws. monitor lizard fought until the moment when the paw flew out of his mouth. 
While eating an animal the Dragon stands on four outstretched legs. In the process of eating, you can see how the monitor lizard's stomach is filled and pulled to the ground. Having eaten, the monitor lizard goes into the shade of the trees to digest food in peace and quiet. If something is left of the victim, young monitor lizards are drawn to the carcass. During the hungry dry season, pangolins feed on their own fat. Average life expectancy komodo dragon is 40 years old.
Komodo dragons have long ceased to be a curiosity ... But one unresolved question remains: how did such interesting animals get to Komodo Island in our time?
The appearance of a huge lizard is shrouded in mystery. There is a version that the Komodo dragon is the progenitor of the modern crocodile. One thing is clear: the monitor lizard living on Komodo Island is the most large lizard in the world. Paleontologists put forward a version that about 5 - 10 million years ago, the ancestors Komodo lizard appeared in Australia. And this assumption is confirmed by one weighty fact: the bones of the only known representative of large reptiles were found in Pleistocene and Pliocene deposits. australia. 
It is believed that after the volcanic islands formed and cooled down, the lizard settled on them, in particular on Komodo island. But here again the question arises: how did the lizard get to the island, located 500 miles from Australia? The answer has not yet been found, but to this day, fishermen are afraid to go sailing near Komodo islands. Let's think that the "dragon" helped sea current. If the version put forward is correct, then what did the lizards eat all the time when there were no buffaloes, no deer, no horses, no cows and pigs on the island ... After all, cattle was brought to the islands by man much later than voracious lizards appeared on them.
Scientists say that in those days giant turtles, elephants, whose height reached one and a half meters, lived on the island. It turns out that the ancestors of modern Komodo lizards hunted elephants, however, dwarf ones.
Anyway, but komodo dragons are "living fossils".
In December 1910, to the Dutch administration on the island of Java from the manager of the island of Flores (according to civil affairs) Stein van Hensbroek received information that the outlying islands of the Lesser Sunda Archipelago are not known to science giant creatures.
Van Stein's report stated that in the vicinity of Labuan Badi of Flores Island, as well as on the nearby island of Komodo, an animal lives, which the local natives call "buaya-darat", which means "earthen crocodile".
Komodo dragons are one of the species potentially dangerous to humans, although they are less dangerous than crocodiles or sharks and do not pose a direct danger to adults.
According to local residents, the length of some monsters reaches seven meters, and three- and four-meter buya-darats are common. The curator of the Butsnzorg Zoological Museum at the Botanical Park of West Java Province, Peter Owen, immediately entered into correspondence with the manager of the island and asked him to organize an expedition to get a reptile unknown to European science.
This was done, although the first lizard caught was only 2 meters 20 centimeters long. Her skin and photographs were sent by Hensbroek to Owens. In the accompanying note, he said that he would try to catch a larger specimen, although this was not easy to do, since the natives were terribly afraid of these monsters. Convinced that the giant reptile was not a myth, the Zoological Museum sent an animal trapping specialist to Flores. As a result, the employees of the Zoological Museum managed to get four specimens of "earth crocodiles", two of which were almost three meters long.
Giant monitor lizards are cannibals, and adults, on occasion, will not miss the opportunity to feast on smaller relatives.
In 1912, Peter Owens published an article in the Bulletin of the Botanical Garden about the existence of a new species of reptile, naming an animal previously unknown to the spider. komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis Ouwens). Later it turned out that giant monitor lizards are found not only on Komodo, but also on the small islands of Ritya and Padar, lying west of Flores. A careful study of the archives of the Sultanate showed that this animal was mentioned in the archives dating back to 1840.
First World War forced to stop research, and only after 12 years, interest in the Komodo monitor resumed. Now, US zoologists have become the main researchers of the giant reptile. On the English language this reptile became known as komodo dragon(comodo dragon). For the first time, a live specimen was caught by the expedition of Douglas Barden in 1926. In addition to two live specimens, Barden also brought 12 stuffed animals to the United States, three of which are on display at the American Museum. natural history in New York.
RESERVED ISLANDS
Indonesian national park Komodo (Komodo National Park), protected by UNESCO, was founded in 1980 and includes a group of islands with adjacent warm waters and coral reefs with an area of more than 170 thousand hectares.
The islands of Komodo and Rinca are the largest in the reserve. Of course, the main celebrity of the park is Komodo dragons. However, many tourists come here to see the unique terrestrial and underwater flora and fauna of Komodo. There are about 100 species of fish here. There are about 260 species of reef corals and 70 species of sponges in the sea.
The national park is also home to such animals as the maned sambar, Asian water buffalo, wild boar, Javan macaque.
It was Barden who established the true size of these animals and refuted the myth of seven-meter giants. It turned out that males rarely exceed the length of three meters, and females are much smaller, their length is not more than two meters.
One bite is enough
Years of research have made it possible to study well the habits and lifestyle of giant reptiles. It turned out that Komodo dragons, like other cold-blooded animals, are active only from 6 to 10 am and from 3 to 5 pm. They prefer dry, well-sun areas, and are generally associated with arid plains, savannahs, and tropical dry forests.
In the hot season (May-October), they often stick to dry riverbeds with jungle-covered banks. Young animals can climb well and spend a lot of time in trees, where they find food, and in addition, they hide from their own adult relatives. Giant monitor lizards are cannibals, and adults, on occasion, will not miss the opportunity to feast on smaller relatives. As shelters from heat and cold, monitor lizards use burrows 1-5 m long, which they dig with strong paws with long, curved and sharp claws. Hollow trees often serve as shelters for young monitor lizards.
Komodo dragons, despite their size and outward clumsiness, are good runners. At short distances, reptiles can reach speeds of up to 20 kilometers, and at long distances, their speed is 10 km / h. To get food from a height (for example, on a tree), monitor lizards can stand on their hind legs, using their tail as a support. Reptiles have good hearing, sharp eyesight, but their most important sense organ is the sense of smell. These reptiles are able to smell carrion or blood at a distance of even 11 kilometers.
Most of the monitor lizard population lives in the western and northern parts of the Flores Islands - about 2000 specimens. About 1000 live on Komodo and Rincha, and on the smallest islands of the Gili Motang and Nusa Kode groups, only 100 individuals each.
At the same time, it was noticed that the number of monitor lizards has fallen and individuals are gradually shrinking. They say that the decline in the number of wild ungulates on the islands due to poaching is to blame, so monitor lizards are forced to switch to smaller food.
In the photo m A young Komodo dragon on the carcass of an Asian water buffalo. The power of the jaws of monitor lizards is fantastic. Without effort they open chest victims, cutting through the ribs like a huge can opener.
GAD BROTHERHOOD
From modern species prey much larger than itself is attacked only by the Komodo dragon and the crocodile monitor lizard. The crocodile monitor lizard has very long and almost straight teeth. This is an evolutionary adaptation for successful feeding by birds (breaking through dense plumage). They also have serrated edges, and the teeth of the upper and lower jaws can act like scissors, which makes it easier for them to dismember prey in a tree where they spend most life.
Yadozuby - poisonous lizards. Today, two species are known - gila monster and escorpion. They live mainly in the southwestern United States and Mexico in rocky foothills, semi-deserts and deserts. The most active poisonous teeth are in the spring, when their favorite food appears - bird eggs. They also feed on insects, small lizards and snakes. The poison is produced by the submandibular and sublingual salivary glands and through the ducts enters the teeth of the lower jaw. When bitten, the teeth of the gila teeth - long and curved back - almost half a centimeter enter the body of the victim.
The menu of monitor lizards includes a wide variety of animals. They practically eat everything: large insects and their larvae, crabs and fish thrown out by storms, rodents. And although monitor lizards are born scavengers, they are also active hunters, and often large animals become their prey: wild boars, deer, dogs, domestic and feral goats, and even the largest ungulates of these islands - Asian water buffaloes.
Giant monitor lizards do not actively pursue their prey, but rather steal it and grab it when it comes close by itself.
When hunting large animals, reptiles use very reasonable tactics. Adult monitor lizards, leaving the forest, slowly move towards grazing animals, from time to time they stop and crouch to the ground if they feel that they are attracting their attention. wild boars, they can knock down deer with a blow of their tail, but more often they use their teeth - inflicting a single bite on the animal's leg. This is where success lies. After all, now the course is launched " biological weapons» Komodo dragon.
Reptiles have good hearing, sharp eyesight, but their most important sense organ is the sense of smell.
For a long time it was believed that the victim was eventually killed by disease-causing organisms in the monitor lizard's saliva. But in 2009, scientists found that in addition to the “deadly cocktail” of pathogenic bacteria and viruses in saliva, to which monitor lizards themselves have immunity, reptiles are poisonous.
The Komodo dragon has two venom glands in its lower jaw that produce toxic proteins. These proteins, when released into the body of the victim, prevent blood clotting, lower blood pressure, contribute to muscle paralysis and the development of hypothermia. Everything in general leads the victim to shock or loss of consciousness. The venom gland of Komodo monitor lizards is more primitive than that of poisonous snakes. The gland is located in the lower jaw under the salivary glands, its ducts open at the base of the teeth, and do not exit through special channels in poisonous teeth, as in snakes.
AT oral cavity poison and saliva mix with decaying food, forming a mixture in which many different deadly bacteria multiply. But this did not surprise scientists, but the poison delivery system. It turned out to be the most complex of all such systems in reptiles. Instead of injecting with a single blow with their teeth, like poisonous snakes, monitor lizards have to literally rub it into the victim's wound, making jerks with their jaws. This evolutionary invention has helped giant monitor lizards survive for thousands of years.
After a successful attack, time begins to work for the reptile, and the hunter is left to follow the victim all the time. The wound does not heal, the animal becomes weaker every day. After two weeks, even such a large animal as a buffalo has no strength left, its legs buckle and it falls. For the monitor lizard, it's time for a feast. He slowly approaches the victim and rushes at her. At the smell of blood, his relatives come running. In places of feeding, fights often arise between equal males. As a rule, they are cruel, but not deadly, as evidenced by the numerous scars on their bodies.
Who is next?
For people, a huge head covered like a shell, with unkind, unblinking eyes, a toothy gaping mouth, from which a forked tongue protrudes, all the time in motion, a bumpy and folded body of a dark brown color on strong spread legs with long claws and a massive tail is a living embodiment of the image of extinct monsters of distant eras. One can only be amazed at how such creatures could survive today practically unchanged.
The only one famous representative large reptiles - Megalania prisca sizes from 5 to 7 m and weighing 650-700 kg
Paleontologists believe that 5-10 million years ago the ancestors of the Komodo dragon appeared in Australia. This assumption fits well with the fact that the only known representative of large reptiles is Megalania prisca measuring from 5 to 7 m and weighing 650-700 kg was found on this continent. Megalania, and the full name of the monstrous reptile can be translated from Latin as “the great ancient tramp”, preferred, like the Komodo monitor lizard, to settle in grassy savannahs and sparse forests, where he hunted mammals, including very large ones, such as diprodonts, various reptiles and birds. These were the largest poisonous creatures that ever existed on Earth.
Fortunately, these animals died out, but the Komodo dragon took their place, and now it is these reptiles that attract thousands of people to come to forgotten by time islands to see vivo the last representatives of the ancient world.
There are 17,504 islands in Indonesia, although these numbers are not final. The Indonesian government has set itself the difficult task of conducting a complete audit of all the Indonesian islands without exception. And who knows, maybe at the end of it there will still be open known to people animals, although not as dangerous as Komodo dragons, but certainly no less amazing!
The Komodo dragon is the largest lizard species in existence today.
Adult specimens of Komodo monitor lizards reach a weight of 70 kg and a body length of up to 3 m. It is worth noting that in captivity this monitor lizard can be even larger.
The adult has a dark brown color with a yellow speck. The cutting edge of the monitor lizard's teeth is somewhat reminiscent of a saw blade. This structure of the tooth allows the animal to easily butcher the carcass of its prey.
Habitat of Komodo monitor lizards
The habitat of this lizard is very localized. It is distributed only on the islands of Indonesia, such as Flores, Rinka, Jili Motang and Komodo. From the name of the last island, in fact, the name of this species comes. Studies show that these lizards left Australia 900,000 years ago and moved to the islands.
Komodo dragon lifestyle
These lizards form groups only during the mating season and during feeding. The rest of the time, stay alone. Activity is shown mainly during daylight hours. Being in the shade for the first part of the day, they go hunting in the second half, when the heat subsides somewhat. They spend the night in shelters, from which they crawl out only in the morning.
Monitor lizard keeps dry areas well-lit by the sun. Usually these are savannahs, dry forests of the tropics and arid plains. From May to October it inhabits dry riverbeds. In order to profit from carrion, it often visits the coast. Varan - great swimmer. Cases have been noted when these lizards even swam from island to island.
Burrows up to 5 meters deep serve as a refuge for monitor lizards. The lizards dig these holes on their own. In this they are helped by their powerful paws with sharp claws. Younger monitor lizards, unable to dig their own similar holes, find shelter in hollows and cracks in trees. The monitor lizard is able to reach speeds of up to 20 km/h for a short time. To get to food at a certain height, the monitor lizard is able to rise on its hind legs.
AT natural environment habitat adult lizards do not meet enemies. However, young animals can often become prey birds of prey and snakes.
In captivity, these lizards rarely live up to 25 years, although, according to some reports, in wild environment monitor lizards can live up to half a century.
Feeding the Komodo dragon
Komodo dragons feed on a variety of animals. The diet includes fish, crabs, lizards, turtles, rats, snakes. The lizard also feeds on birds and insects. Of the large animals, deer, horses and even buffaloes sometimes become prey. In especially hungry years, monitor lizards do not disdain to eat individuals of their own species. In this case, as a rule, very small individuals and young animals become victims of cannibalism.
Adults very often feed on carrion. Sometimes the method of obtaining such carrion is very interesting.
The monitor lizard, having tracked down a large animal, suddenly attacks it, inflicting wounds on it, into which poison and bacteria from the oral cavity of this lizard will get. The monitor lizard then follows its prey in anticipation of its death.
Such persecution can last from several hours to several weeks. These lizards feel carrion well thanks to their surprisingly developed sense of smell.
Today, poaching within the habitat of monitor lizards causes great harm and reduces the number of large ungulates. Because of this, monitor lizards are often forced to settle for smaller prey. The consequence of this state of affairs is a decrease in the average size of adult Komodo dragons. This size has decreased by 25% over the past 10 years.
Reproduction of Komodo dragons
Sexual maturity comes to these lizards in the tenth year of existence. Until this time, only a small part of individuals survive. As for the sexual structure, females occupy only 23% of the entire population.
Due to the huge competition during the mating season, there are fights between males for females. In these fights, adult experienced individuals often win. The old and the young, as a rule, remain out of work.
The mating season for monitor lizards begins at winter time. Having mated, the female is taken to search for a place for masonry. As a rule, such places are compost heaps created by weed chickens as nests. These heaps are natural incubators for Komodo dragon eggs. In these heaps, females dig deep burrows. Laying takes place in summer period from July to August. There are about 20 eggs in one clutch. With a diameter of 6 cm and a length of 10 cm, the eggs weigh about two hundred grams.