Komodo Dragon

• Type: Reptile
  
• Diet: Carnivore
  
• Average lifespan in the wild: 30 years+
  
• Size: 10 feet (3 m)
  
• Weight: 330 lbs (150 kg)
  
• Did you know? Komodo dragons can run up to 11 miles an hour (18 kph) in short bursts.
  
• Protection status: Endangered.
  
• Have thrived in the harsh climate of Indonesia's Lesser Sunda Islands for millions of years.
  
• Their existence was unknown to humans until about 100 years ago.
  
• The heaviest lizards on Earth.
  
• They have long, flat heads with rounded snouts, scaly skin, bowed legs, and huge, muscular tails.
  
• Dominant predators on the handful of islands they inhabit, they will eat almost anything, including carrion, deer, pigs, smaller dragons, and even large water buffalo and humans.
  
• When hunting, Komodo dragons rely on camouflage and patience, lying in wait for passing prey. When a victim ambles by, the dragon springs, using its powerful legs, sharp claws and serrated, shark-like teeth to eviscerate its prey.
  
• Animals that escape the jaws of a Komodo will only feel lucky briefly. Dragon saliva teems with over 50 strains of bacteria, and within 24 hours, the stricken creature usually dies of blood poisoning.
  
• Dragons calmly follow an escapee for miles as the bacteria takes effect, using their keen sense of smell to hone in on the corpse. A dragon can eat a whopping 80 percent of its body weight in a single feeding.
  
• Population of about 3,000 to 5,000 Komodo dragons on the islands of Komodo, Gila Motang, Rinca, and Flores.
  
• However, a dearth of egg-laying females, poaching, human encroachment, and natural disasters has driven the species to endangered status.
  

• Small (young) Komodo Dragons are accomplished tree climbers.
  
• Komodo Dragons are cannibals, eating their young and occasionally their eggs.
  
• The
  Dragon's teeth are large, curved and serrated and arranged so that the
  maximum amount of flesh can be bitten off and swallowed whole.
  
• The saliva of a Komodo Dragon contains over 50 types of bacteria, seven of them highly septic.
  
• Under severe environmental conditions, Komodo Dragons have been know to swim between islands.
  
• Infant Komodo Dragons may roll themselves in entrails and faecies to prevent being eaten by mature Komodo Dragons.
  
• Komodo
  Dragon's sense of smell is powerful enough to smell carrion up to four
  kilometres away and sea turtle eggs up to half-a-metre under the sand.
  
• Other than finding cool spaces, the only mechanism a Komodo Dragon has for lowering its body temperature is panting.
  
• The
  genus Varanus (Monitor Lizards) emerged in central Asia around 40
  million years ago, most of the Komodo's related species are found in
  Australia.
  
• The
  largest risk to the survival of the Komodo Dragon is encroachment by
  humans, destruction of environment and poaching of prey such as the
  Sunda deer.
  

shasha_polcey wrote:i think its just what its called.its just a name.but the thing u should know is that its really a giant lizard.this thing is so scary.