A picture of a Komodo dragon.

Komodo Dragon

The Komodo dragon is a venomous lizard that lives in the island of Komodo and other neighbouring islands in Indonesia. It is the largest lizard in the world.

A picture of a Komodo dragon.

Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis). Toronto Zoo, Australasia pavilion.

Komodo dragons grow to 3 meters in length and can weigh over 70 kilograms.

Komodo dragons will eat anything they can kill — which is a lot. They do eat whole pigs and goats and similar animals.

Komodo dragons do produce venom, even though previously the common belief was that their bite is dangerous only because of the bacteria in their months. Research shows that they are venomous, just lest effective than snakes are since Komodo dragons do not have the injection system that snakes use to deliver their deadly load. Because of that a bigger animal can take days to die from a Komod dragon bite, in the mean time the Komodo dragon just has to be patient.

Komodo dragons are among those rare reptiles that are capable of parthenogenesis (virgin birth) and if a female is stranded some place where there are no males she can still produce fertile eggs that will hatch into male Komodo dragons.

Further Readings:
Komodo dragon on the Toronto Zoo website.
Virgin Birth Expected at Christmas — By Komodo Dragon
Komodo dragon on Arkive.
Komodo dragon on Wikipedia.

Last updated: July 3, 2014

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