Lions and Tigers and ... Dragons!? Oh MY!

They don't fly, or breathe fire, as one might expect, but these dragons are pretty impressive nonetheless. The Komodo dragon, Varanus komodoensis, isn't really a dragon at all, but a monitor lizard; the largest monitor lizard on earth (they grow up to 10 feet and weight as much as four hundren pounds!). As befits any creature evoking a mythological beast, the Komodo, or biawak raksasa, has many unique characteristics.



The Komodo is endemic to the islands of Komodo National Park in Indonesia (Komodo, Rinca, and a few other nearby islands). They seem docile if you see them hunkered down for a mid-day nap in the shade, but they are lightening fast, both on land, and in the water!

In more dragon-like fashion, their razor-sharp teeth are unforgiving, and their mouths are host to several types of highly-toxic bacteria. This real-life dragon is capable of swallowing up to 80% of its own body weight in one meal, and is known to prey on deer, wild pigs, and even sometimes humans! Just last month there was an eight year-old boy attacked and killed by a Komodo dragon (actually the first attack in 30 years)!

Komodo's have a 'sixth sense'; a combinations of taste and smell (or vomero-nasal). The Komodo uses his specialized tongue to gather chemical information from the air and surrounding objects. This 'tasting of the air' lets the Komodo know about potential prey or anything else within 4 kms (using the Jacobson's organ which translates the chemical information and sends it to the brain)! The foot-long forked tongue of the Komodo was the most interesting part about the one we saw... although it was too fast for me to catch a picture! It looked to me like they were licking the sky!



So, while these dragons aren't consistent with the images stirred up by Anne Murray's Dragon in the Driveway, or Robert Munsch's Dragon who tries to intimidate the Paper-bag Princess, they were well worth the trip to the remote Komodo National Park. They've still got nothing on Puff!

And... for those who aren't lucky enough to actually catch a glimpse of a dragon, which is possible since the National Park just lets the dragons roam free in their natural manner, the scenery itself is worth it!