More than anything, these lizards are prone to lounging.
But even when they’re all charged up after basking in the sun, that energy must be carefully conserved for foraging and mating. The world’s largest lizards are ectotherms, for starters, and this means their energy levels vary with the heat of the day. ( Learn more about the Komodo dragon’s bitter bite.)īut despite all of this, a variety of factors make death-by-dragon highly unlikely. Oh, and Komodo dragon saliva contains a rudimentary venom that reduces blood pressure and increases bleeding. The reptiles can open their jaws nearly 180 degrees, their teeth are flat blades like those of a great white shark, and they can explode out of the underbrush to ambush prey. Jessop has been studying Komodo dragons for about 20 years, and what he means is that it would certainly be possible for one of these behemoths to take down an adult human. “We consider Komodo dragons deadly, but not dangerous.” “We have this phrase,” says Tim Jessop, an integrative ecologist at Deakin University in Australia.
“They use that to just push the dragon off if one takes a bit too much interest in you,” says Rob Pilley, a herpetologist and wildlife filmmaker. To protect the dragons’ habitat, less than 5 percent of the park is open to tourists, and each visitor must be accompanied by a guide or ranger armed with a 6-foot-long wooden staff. But visitors do need to take serious precautions before entering Komodo National Park. This has led to the creation of a thriving tourist industry that can get you up close and personal with the gigantic, carnivorous beasts. What you cannot do is wander by yourself-because the woods are full of dragons. and the Bronx Zoo.īut to see them in their native habitat, you would have to travel to one of four Indonesian islands. Other zoos with Komodo dragons-currently closed due to the pandemic-include the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. You can see them at zoos throughout the U.S., such as the Louisville Zoo in Kentucky, Toledo Zoo & Aquarium in Ohio, or Pittsburgh Zoo in Pennsylvania, which have recently reopened after COVID-19 shutdowns. The cool thing about these creatures is that even though they are massive meat-eaters, they are also extremely accessible. But at 10 feet in length and more than 300 pounds, Komodo dragons are the closest thing we’ve got to the mythical beasts that haunt our dreams (and kids’ cartoons). And you definitely won’t see them fly through the air (unless you’re viewing a SpaceX launch-the reusable spacecraft is named Crew Dragon).
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