Kingdom : Animalia Class : Reptilia Family : Varanidae Scientific Name : Varanus komodoensis Colour : Grey, Brown, Cream Skin Type : Scales Size(L) : 2m - 3.1m (6.6ft - 10.3ft) Weight : 70kg - 150kg (150lbs - 300lbs) Top Speed : 18km/h (11mph) Life Span : 25 - 40 years Most Distinctive Feature : Long and deep forked tongue to taste the air Fun Fact : Only found on five Indonesian islands!
- Komodo Dragons are a large species of lizard found exclusively in few of the Indonesian islands.
- Interestingly, their existence was not known to the world till about a 100 years back.
- They are lizards of enormous size growing to be between 2m and 3m and weighing around 100-150 kg.
- They are extremely strong and powerful animals with thick, long bodies, short muscular legs and a strong tail.
- They have small heads, powerful jaws and their mouth is believed to have deadly bacteria.
- They sense their surroundings by “tasting” the scent particles or through smelling by sticking out their forked tongue.
- By this unique sensory mechanism, they are able to spot their prey dead or alive from as far as 8km!
- They are powerful, solitary predators, which ambush their prey with exceptional force and speed.
- The 50 types of toxic bacteria in their mouth get transferred to the prey thereby infecting them and killing them within 24 hours.
- They prey on large mammals like goats, deer, pigs, horses and even water buffaloes.
- The female Komodo Dragon lays around 25 eggs which hatch after 8-9 months of incubation.
- Young Komodo Dragons are completely independent by the time they hatch out.
- Despite their huge size, they have the ability to move at top speeds reaching 11mph.
- They have been known to attack, ambush and bite humans and are actually one of the known man-eaters.
- Despite this, humans have hunted them.
- Habitat loss and hunting have made the Komodo dragons a species that is vulnerable.