The Komodo Dragon is one of the most beautiful and most deadly reptiles on the planet. It looks like something out of a Jurassic Park movie and yet we still don’t know an awful lot about these beasts.
Here are our Top 10 interesting facts about the Komodo Dragon.
The Komodo Dragon is the largest of all lizards. Whilst females can grow up to 6ft, adult males have been reported as being 10ft long and weighing around 200 pounds.
Komodo dragons have flexible jaws which allow them to eat large prey. A komodo dragon can easily devour prey that’s as large as 80% of its own size – meaning a 9ft komodo dragon could easily eat a 6ft human. They can also reach speeds of up to 13mph when running.
Female Komodo dragons can reproduce without any male partner. They can lay their eggs without needing a male to impregnate them. Once born, their babies use a special tooth to break the egg shell and escape.
Despite being incredible hunters, Komodo dragons prefer to lie in wait and ambush their prey rather than attacking head on.
They were discovered by the Western world in 1912 but were known to local people for many years before that. Whilst we call them Komodo dragons, local people called them “ora” meaning “land crocodile”.
Using their forked tongue, they can detect prey up to 2 miles away.
After biting their prey, Komodo dragons let the bacteria and venom in their saliva simply weaken their victim down. Then they track them using their keen sense of smell before eating their prey.
Although Komodo dragons are primarily land-based animals that love the heat, they’re also excellent swimmers.
They’ve been responsible for human deaths and, as a result, people who live on the islands with Komodo dragons have built their houses on stilts to prevent the beasts from breaking in and taking their loved ones.