Friday, January 11, 2013

Komodo Dragon Adventure

A video from the Komodo National Park.
See pictures from Komodo  at this link (Komodo Dragons and Kampung Komodo Village) - one of the New7Wonders of Nature.
At the entrance too the Komodo National Park we got information on the tour before we guided by a ranger entered the forrest to meet the dragons.
The ranger has enough experience in dealing with the Komodo Dragon and they always carries Y-branched wood stick, resembling Komodo dragons tongue.
We did meet several dragons and passed by a dragon nest - a hole in the ground used for nesting (time 01:56). The Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis), also known as the Komodo monitor, the world's largest lizard which lives in the Komodo National Park. is a large species of lizard found in the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang and Padar.
The average male adult is about 2.5 to 3 metres (10 ft) in length and weighs in at around 50 - 70 kilograms (150 lb). They can move quickly and run at a speed of up to 20 kilometres per hour. It is a vulnerable species and is found on the IUCN Red List.
There are approximately 4,000 to 5,000 living Komodo dragons in the wild.
The tall grass on the islands provides good cover for the dragon, and most attacks occur from ambush when prey passes within strike range. If they cannot kill prey immediately they will try to bite the animal on the leg or on the throat. Later, they will follow and wait for the animal to weaken and die before they eat it. There are over 60 types of bacteria in the dragon's saliva and at least one of them can cause septicemia. After being bitten, the prey can take a day to a couple of weeks to die from blood-poisoning.
Deer is one of the wild animals living in Komodo Island, east part of Indonesia National Park and it always become food source for Komodo dragon.

Komodo has a surface area of 390 km2 and a permanent population of over 2,000.
The park includes the three larger islands Komodo, Padar and Rinca, and 26 smaller ones, with a total area of 1,733 km≤ (603 km2 of it land) in Indonesia.
The national park was founded in 1980 to protect the Komodo dragon and is one of  the New7Wonders of Nature

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