Sources

http://progarchives.com

http://photohome.com

http://wildanimalfightclub.com

These 3 links will bring you to the sites where I got my amazing pictures, if I havn't got them all, simply leave me a comment saying where youre picture is, and the address. Thank You. Good luck.

Hamster

Random Komodo Dragon Facts

I could not decide what I should write another post about Komodo Dragons on so I decided to do a bunch of random facts about the Komodo Dragon. This should be weirdly interesting ...

• Komodo Dragons rule supreme on their islands, as there are no other carnivores that fill the neccessary dominant role.




• Komodo Dragons are also known as Komodo Monitor, but this is quite rare.




• To the natives of Komodo, Komodo Dragons are called now, which means''land crocodile''




• Even though Komodo dragons have large, visible Earhole, they do not have a very good sense of hearing. (400-2000 Hz)




• The Komodo Dragon's teeth can measure up to a whole inch in length.



• The expidition to Komodo (Post 4) was the inspiration for the movie,''King Kong'', however the giant lizard was changed to an ape, I bet you did not know that.


• The latest victim to be killed by a Komodo dragon was in March 2009, when Muhammad Anwar fell from a tree, when he suffered from massive bites to his hands, legs, body and neck.


• Komodo Dragons usualy can live anywhere between 20 to 40 years.
• During mating season, females can lay up to about 30 eggs.
• There are between 3000 to 5000 Komodos left in the wild.
• In the wild, K0modo Dragons are generally solitary creatures, apart from mating season of course.

Well, in tis post, I have surpassed the 1000 mark word. That completes my requirements for my Environmental Studies project, but do not worry, I will hopefully be able to publish more posts on this blog if I get any comments encouraging me to. So thank you very much for reading.

History of the Komodo Dragon

I think I will do this post on the history of the Komodo Dragon. Well everyone comes from somewhere and so do these animals, so give me a half decent answer why I shouldn't?






The creature that the Komodo Dragon evolved from originated in Asia, about 40 million years ago. They then migrated to Australia. The connection between South-East Asia and Australia allowed the lizards to settle in the modern day islands in Indonesia. The modern day Komodo Dragon evolved from its ancestors about 4 million years ago. The Komodo Dragons became isolated in their area when the sea level rose, cutting them off from the mainland.

Komodo Dragons were first heard of in Europe in the early 20th century. These were rumours of a land crocodile. They became well known in about 1912 when a man called Peter Ouwens wrote a paper about them, when he saw a photograph of them. Later, the Komodo dragon was the main reason an expedition was led to Komodo by W. D. Burden. He collected 12 preserved Komodos and 2 live ones. Some of them can still be seen in The American Museum of Natural History. Burden was the one who also came up with the name ''Komodo Dragon''.

Komodos in Captivity

This post will be on Komodo dragons that are in captivity . This post shouldn't be as disgusting as the last one.

Since Komodo Dragons are the largest living species of lizard, they are popular attractions in zoos. Unfortunately, they are quite rare, as they are prone to infections, and they don't reproduce that often. Aww... As of last summer, there were fifty-three zoos that kept komodo dragons, most of them being in North America. In the 1930's, the first komodo dragons that were kept died very quickly, but thankfully, the studies by Walter Auffenberg made their captive lifespan more successful.

Surprisingly, these captive komodos are quite social and even playful. Some keepers, have taken them out of their habitat and allowed them to interact with people. It has been documented that komodo dragons react differently to their ''regular'' and unknown zookeepers.

It has been observed that Komodo Dragons play with objects. At the University of Tennessee, Kraken, the first dragon hatched in captivity outside of Indonesia, was said to have interacted with plastic rings, a bucket, a shoe and a tin can by nudging them, swiping at them and carrying them in her mouth. This type of play is similar to another female in the National Zoo in Washingto D.C. These interactions are not dissimilar to the type of play by mamals.

That was very sweet, eh? A little bit sappy, I guess it shows that they are not all hardened preditors. Hehehe.

Diet of a Komodo Dragon

I will dedicate this post to the eating habits of the Komodo Dragon. After all, eating is important isn't it?

For starters (sorry, bad pun) komodo dragons are carnivores, and mostly feed on the carcases of dead animals, or carrion. The komodo dragon has a varied diet, including insects, other reptiles and birds. It can even eat deer, goats, horses and water buffalo. It has even been known to eat human corpses, burried in sallow graves.

Komodo dragons lie in ambush, until a suitable prey arrives. It will then charge and try to bite its throat. It can also knock down larger animals with its long tail. Komodo dragons can swallow prey up to the size of a small goat whole. For other prey, it will bite chunks out of its prey, but you already know that.

Komodo dragons have a very slow metabolism therefore, it can survive on as little as one meal every month. However, these meals are roughly eighty percent of its normal body weight. After eating, it will digest its food in a sunny location to speed up the digestion, as undigested food could rot and poison it. When the food is digested, it will regurgitate what is known as a gastric pellet. Similar to humans, it does not like the smell of its leavings.

I suppose that post was pretty gross, I guess I should have warned you about that. Oops, sorry about that.

Description of Komodo Dragons

I've decided to do this post describing the physical characteristics of the Komodo Dragon, after all, you have to start somewhere don't you?



Komodo Dragons are the largest, living, species of lizard. They are usually two to three metres in length. The young komodo dragons are about seventy-five centimetres and they live in trees. The tail of the Komodo Dragon is about the same length of its body. They are usually seventy kilograms. That last figure are for wild Komodo dragons as the ones in captivity usually weigh more. This makes them the heaviest lizards in the world.



Komodo Dragons have long, forked tongues and they are yellow in colour.They have about sixty teeth. They fall out and are replaced quite regularly. The teeth are serrated, like flesh-eating sharks. When they bite, they cut out chunks of their prey's flesh. The komodo's mouth is full of venom, therefore, if its prey survives the original attack, they will be killed by infection later. The komodo's skull is very flexible, and it can swallow large pieces of food.

Despite its size, komodo dragons can run up to eleven miles an hour, in short bursts. That is about as fast as a dog.