On the island of Flores, Komodo habitat is shrinking quickly because of the impact of a human population of approximately 2 million. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance participates in conservation research to help these carnivorous giants.
We are learning about the population biology of Komodo dragons in Komodo National Park. By studying Komodo dragon births, deaths, survival, and growth, we hope to learn many important things that will enable us to better conserve and manage them. In addition, we are exploring how things such as prey availability and rainfall influence the biology of the different dragon populations across Komodo National Park. Before we started this project, many basic pieces of information that are needed to manage and conserve Komodo dragons were unknown, including how many Komodo dragons live on each island, how different the populations are among the islands, and if the dragons move much among islands.
Over the years we have been able to provide answers to some of these questions. For example, we now know that despite living across several islands, dragons only occasionally swim to other islands and thus seem to be homebodies. Furthermore, Komodo dragons tend to remain within the same valleys they were hatched in. Similarly, females often nest in the same nest location each time. We have some initial information that suggests that to become a very big male it may take as much as 20 years of growth, while for females 5 to 7 years seems to be when they are reach maturity.
We still have much to learn about these incredible reptiles! By supporting San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, you are our ally in saving and protecting wildlife worldwide. They look like shark teeth and have been compared to those of an extinct saber-toothed cat. Komodo dragons eat extremely quickly.
They have been seen consuming 5. Main menu. Search form Search. Varanus komodoensis. A Komodo dragon goes through four or five sets of teeth in a lifetime. In Komodo National Park, there are four times as many male Komodo dragons as there are females.
Calla Lily. A member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae , it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to an average length of two to three meters approximately 6. As a result of their size, these lizards are apex predators, dominating the ecosystems in which they live. Although Komodo dragons eat mostly carrion, they will also hunt and ambush prey including invertebrates, birds, and mammals.
Mating begins between May and August, and the eggs are laid in September. About twenty eggs are deposited in abandoned megapode nests and incubated for seven to eight months, hatching in April, when insects are most plentiful.
Young Komodo dragons are vulnerable and therefore dwell in trees, safe from predators and cannibalistic adults. They take around three to five years to mature, and may live as long as fifty years.
They are capable of parthenogenesis, in which viable eggs are laid without fertilization by a male. Komodo dragons were discovered by Western scientists in Their large size and fearsome reputation make them popular zoo exhibits. In the wild their range has contracted due to human activities and they are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. They are protected under Indonesian law, and a national park, Komodo National Park, was founded to aid protection efforts. The Komodo dragon is also known as the Komodo Monitor or the Komodo Island Monitor in scientific literature, although this is not very common.
To the natives of Komodo Island, it is referred to as ora, buaja darat land crocodile or biawak raksasa giant monitor. Rob is an ecologist from the University of Hawaii. He is the co-creator and director of Untamed Science.
His goal is to create videos and content that are entertaining, accurate, and educational. When he's not making science content, he races whitewater kayaks and works on Stone Age Man. Biodiversity Komodo Dragon. Choose one of the following categories to see related pages: Large Carnivores. Share this Page. You can follow Rob Nelson Facebook.
Common Name: Komodo Dragon. It can spend hours in one spot along a game trail — waiting for a deer or other sizable and nutritious prey to cross its path — before launching an attack. Most of the monitor's attempts at bringing down prey are unsuccessful.
However, if it is able to bite its prey, bacteria and venom in its saliva will kill the prey within a few days. After the animal dies, which can take up to four days, the Komodo uses its powerful sense of smell to locate the body.
A kill is often shared between many Komodo dragons. Monitors can see objects as far away as feet meters , so vision does play a role in hunting, especially as their eyes are better at picking up movement than at discerning stationary objects.
Their retinas possess only cones, so they may be able to distinguish color but have poor vision in dim light. They have a much smaller hearing range than humans and, as a result, cannot hear sounds like low-pitched voices or high-pitched screams.
The Komodo dragon's sense of smell is its primary food detector. It uses its long, yellow, forked tongue to sample the air. It then moves the forked tip of its tongue to the roof of its mouth, where it makes contact with the Jacobson's organs. These chemical analyzers "smell" prey, such as a deer, by recognizing airborne molecules.
If the concentration of molecules present on the left tip of the tongue is greater than that sample from the right, the Komodo dragon knows that the deer is approaching from the left. This system, along with an undulatory walk, in which the head swings from side to side, helps the dragon sense the existence and direction of food. At times, these reptiles can smell carrion, or rotting flesh, up to 2. This lizard's large, curved and serrated teeth are its deadliest weapon, tearing flesh with efficiency.
The tooth serrations hold bits of meat from its most recent meal, and this protein-rich residue supports large numbers of bacteria. Some 50 different bacterial strains, at least seven of which are highly septic, have been found in the saliva.
Researchers have also documented a venom gland in the dragon's lower jaw. In addition to the harmful bacteria, the venom prevents the blood from clotting, which causes massive blood loss and induces shock.
The Komodo's bite may be deadly, but not to another Komodo dragon. Those wounded while sparring with each other appear to be unaffected by the bacteria and venom.
Scientists are searching for antibodies in Komodo dragon blood that may be responsible. The lizard's throat and neck muscles allow it to rapidly swallow huge chunks of meat. Several movable joints, such as the intramandibular hinge, open its lower jaw unusually wide. The dragon's stomach also easily expands, enabling an adult to consume up to 80 percent of its own body weight in a single meal. When threatened, Komodo dragons can throw up the contents of their stomachs to lessen their weight in order to flee.
Even though they are so big, Komodo dragons can be very fast when they are hunting prey. A tourist on Komodo Island photographs life-size Komodo dragon sculptures. Komodo dragons live on a small island in Indonesia called Komodo Island. There are protected parks where the Komodo dragons live on the islands of Rinca and Flores as well as a few other smaller islands. There are around 3, dragons in total, in the wild, on these islands.
About 2, people live on Komodo Island too.
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