Where does the mainland monitor lizard live. The largest lizard in the world. Interesting facts about lizards. How dragons live today
September 17th, 2015
In December 1910, to the Dutch administration on the island of Java from the manager of the island of Flores (according to civil affairs) Stein van Hensbroek received information that the outlying islands of the Lesser Sunda Archipelago are not known to science giant creatures.
Van Stein's report stated that in the vicinity of Labuan Badi of Flores Island, as well as on the nearby island of Komodo, an animal lives, which the local natives call "buaya-darat", which means "earthen crocodile".
Of course, you already guessed what we are talking about now ...
According to local residents, the length of some monsters reaches seven meters, and three- and four-meter buya-darats are common. The curator of the Butsnzorg Zoological Museum at the Botanical Park of West Java Province, Peter Owen, immediately entered into correspondence with the manager of the island and asked him to organize an expedition to get a reptile unknown to European science.
This was done, although the first lizard caught was only 2 meters 20 centimeters long. Her skin and photographs were sent by Hensbroek to Owens. In the accompanying note, he said that he would try to catch a larger specimen, although this was not easy to do, since the natives were terribly afraid of these monsters. Convinced that the giant reptile was not a myth, the Zoological Museum sent an animal trapping specialist to Flores. As a result, the employees of the Zoological Museum managed to get four specimens of "earth crocodiles", two of which were almost three meters long.
In 1912, Peter Owens published an article in the Bulletin of the Botanical Gardens about the existence of a new species of reptile, naming the animal, previously unknown to the spider, the Komodo monitor lizard (Varanus komodoensis Ouwens). Later it turned out that giant monitor lizards are found not only on Komodo, but also on the small islands of Ritya and Padar, lying west of Flores. A careful study of the archives of the Sultanate showed that this animal was mentioned in the archives dating back to 1840.
First World War forced to stop research, and only after 12 years, interest in the Komodo monitor resumed. Now, US zoologists have become the main researchers of the giant reptile. On the English language This reptile became known as the Komodo dragon. For the first time, a live specimen was caught by the expedition of Douglas Barden in 1926. In addition to two living specimens, Barden also brought 12 effigies to the United States, three of which are on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Indonesian national park Komodo national park), protected by UNESCO, was founded in 1980 and includes a group of islands with adjacent warm waters and coral reefs with an area of more than 170 thousand hectares.
The islands of Komodo and Rinca are the largest in the reserve. Of course, the main celebrity of the park is Komodo dragons. However, many tourists come here to see the unique terrestrial and underwater flora and fauna of Komodo. There are about 100 species of fish here. There are about 260 species of reef corals and 70 species of sponges in the sea.
The national park is also home to such animals as the maned sambar, Asian water buffalo, wild boar, Javan macaque.
It was Barden who established the true size of these animals and refuted the myth of seven-meter giants. It turned out that males rarely exceed the length of three meters, and females are much smaller, their length is not more than two meters.
Years of research have made it possible to study well the habits and lifestyle of giant reptiles. It turned out that Komodo dragons, like other cold-blooded animals, are active only from 6 to 10 am and from 3 to 5 pm. They prefer dry, well-sun areas, and are generally associated with arid plains, savannahs, and tropical dry forests.
In the hot season (May-October), they often stick to dry riverbeds with jungle-covered banks. Young animals can climb well and spend a lot of time in trees, where they find food, and in addition, they hide from their own adult relatives. Giant monitor lizards are cannibals, and adults, on occasion, will not miss the opportunity to feast on smaller relatives. As shelters from heat and cold, monitor lizards use burrows 1-5 m long, which they dig with strong paws with long, curved and sharp claws. Hollow trees often serve as shelters for young monitor lizards.
Komodo dragons, despite their size and outward clumsiness, are good runners. At short distances, reptiles can reach speeds of up to 20 kilometers, and at long distances, their speed is 10 km / h. To get food from a height (for example, on a tree), monitor lizards can stand on their hind legs, using their tail as a support. Reptiles have good hearing, sharp eyesight, but their most important sense organ is the sense of smell. These reptiles are able to smell carrion or blood at a distance of even 11 kilometers.
Most of the monitor lizard population lives in the western and northern parts of the Flores Islands - about 2000 specimens. About 1000 live on Komodo and Rincha, and on the smallest islands of the Gili Motang and Nusa Kode groups, only 100 individuals each.
At the same time, it was noticed that the number of monitor lizards has fallen and individuals are gradually shrinking. They say that the decline in the number of wild ungulates on the islands due to poaching is to blame, so monitor lizards are forced to switch to smaller food.
From modern species prey much larger than itself is attacked only by the Komodo dragon and the crocodile monitor lizard. The crocodile monitor lizard has very long and almost straight teeth. This is an evolutionary adaptation for successful feeding by birds (breaking through dense plumage). They also have serrated edges, and the teeth of the upper and lower jaws can act like scissors, which makes it easier for them to dismember prey in a tree where they spend most life.
Yadozuby - poisonous lizards. Today, two species are known - gila monster and escorpion. They live mainly in the southwestern United States and Mexico in rocky foothills, semi-deserts and deserts. The most active poisonous teeth are in the spring, when their favorite food appears - bird eggs. They also feed on insects, small lizards and snakes. The poison is produced by the submandibular and sublingual salivary glands and through the ducts enters the teeth of the lower jaw. When bitten, the teeth of the gila teeth - long and curved back - almost half a centimeter enter the body of the victim.
The menu of monitor lizards includes a wide variety of animals. They eat almost everything: large insects and their larvae, crabs and storm-tossed fish, rodents. And although monitor lizards are born scavengers, they are also active hunters, and often large animals become their prey: wild boars, deer, dogs, domestic and feral goats, and even the largest ungulates of these islands - Asian water buffaloes.
Giant monitor lizards do not actively pursue their prey, but rather steal it and grab it when it comes close by itself.
When hunting large animals, reptiles use very reasonable tactics. Adult monitor lizards, leaving the forest, slowly move towards grazing animals, from time to time they stop and crouch to the ground if they feel that they are attracting their attention. wild boars, they can knock down deer with a blow of their tail, but more often they use their teeth - inflicting a single bite on the animal's leg. This is where success lies. After all, now the course is launched " biological weapons» Komodo dragon.
For a long time it was believed that the victim was eventually killed by disease-causing organisms in the monitor lizard's saliva. But in 2009, scientists found that in addition to the “deadly cocktail” of pathogenic bacteria and viruses in saliva, to which monitor lizards themselves have immunity, reptiles are poisonous.
Studies led by Bryan Fry from the University of Queensland (Australia) have shown that the number and types of bacteria commonly found in the oral cavity of the Komodo dragon is not fundamentally different from other carnivores.
Moreover, according to Fry, the Komodo dragon is a very clean animal.
Komodo dragons inhabiting the islands of Indonesia are the most large predators on these islands. They prey on pigs, deer and Asiatic buffalo. 75% of pigs and deer die from the bite of a monitor lizard after 30 minutes from blood loss, another 15% - after 3-4 hours from the poison secreted by its salivary glands.
A larger animal - a buffalo, having been attacked by a monitor lizard, always, despite deep wounds, leaves the predator alive. Following its instinct, a bitten buffalo usually seeks refuge in a warm body of water teeming with anaerobic bacteria and eventually succumbs to the infection that enters its legs through the wounds.
Pathogenic bacteria found in the oral cavity of the Komodo dragon in previous studies, according to Fry, are traces of infections that enter his body from an infected drinking water. The number of these bacteria is not enough to cause the death of a buffalo from a bite.
The Komodo dragon has two venom glands in its lower jaw that produce toxic proteins. These proteins, when released into the body of the victim, prevent blood clotting, lower blood pressure, contribute to muscle paralysis and the development of hypothermia. Everything in general leads the victim to shock or loss of consciousness. The venom gland of Komodo monitor lizards is more primitive than that of poisonous snakes. The gland is located in the lower jaw under the salivary glands, its ducts open at the base of the teeth, and do not exit through special channels in poisonous teeth, as in snakes.
In the mouth, poison and saliva mix with decaying food, forming a mixture in which many different deadly bacteria multiply. But this did not surprise scientists, but the poison delivery system. It turned out to be the most complex of all such systems in reptiles. Instead of injecting with a single blow with their teeth, like poisonous snakes, monitor lizards have to literally rub it into the victim's wound, making jerks with their jaws. This evolutionary invention has helped giant monitor lizards survive for thousands of years.
After a successful attack, time begins to work for the reptile, and the hunter is left to follow the victim all the time. The wound does not heal, the animal becomes weaker every day. After two weeks, even such a large animal as a buffalo has no strength left, its legs buckle and it falls. For the monitor lizard, it's time for a feast. He slowly approaches the victim and rushes at her. At the smell of blood, his relatives come running. In places of feeding, fights often arise between equal males. As a rule, they are cruel, but not deadly, as evidenced by the numerous scars on their bodies.
For people, a huge head covered like a shell, with unkind, unblinking eyes, a toothy gaping mouth, from which a forked tongue protrudes, all the time in motion, a bumpy and folded body of a dark brown color on strong spread legs with long claws and a massive tail is a living embodiment of the image of extinct monsters of distant eras. One can only be amazed at how such creatures could survive today practically unchanged.
Paleontologists believe that 5-10 million years ago the ancestors of the Komodo dragon appeared in Australia. This assumption is in good agreement with the fact that the only famous representative large reptiles - Megalania prisca ranging in size from 5 to 7 m and weighing 650-700 kg was found on this mainland. Megalania, and the full name of the monstrous reptile can be translated from Latin, as a "great ancient tramp", preferred, like the Komodo monitor lizard, to settle in grassy savannahs and sparse forests, where he hunted mammals, including very large ones, such as diprodonts, various reptiles and birds. These were the biggest poisonous creatures that have ever existed on earth.
Fortunately, these animals died out, but the Komodo dragon took their place, and now it is these reptiles that attract thousands of people to come to forgotten by time islands to see in natural conditions the last representatives of the ancient world.
There are 17,504 islands in Indonesia, although these numbers are not final. The Indonesian government has set itself difficult task- to carry out a complete audit of all the Indonesian islands without exception. And who knows, maybe at the end of it there will still be open known to people animals, although not as dangerous as Komodo dragons, but certainly no less amazing!
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Komodo Island is located in the heart of the Indonesian archipelago. This is the habitat of the unique and most large lizards in the world - Komodo dragons.
We are in Indonesia. Komodo Island is relatively small, its area is about 390 sq. km. Almost its entire territory is occupied by the Komodo National Park, created in 1980 to protect the Komodo monitor lizards. The coastline seems to be indented by rocky capes, clearly of volcanic origin:
The nature here is unique. Arid savannah extends almost throughout the entire territory.
You can get here from the island of Bali on such tourist devices:
In general, Komodo is an island often visited by cruise ships from all over the world:
You have to come here because of this unique miracle nature - Komodo dragon! This terrifying, deadly monitor lizard lives on the territory of the island. This is his home.
So, Komodo dragons are giant lizards, reaching a length of 3 meters and weighing up to 150 kg! The natural lifespan of monitor lizards in nature is probably around 50 years.
Pretty boy. Komodo dragons feed on a wide variety of animals. Fish are their prey sea turtles, wild boar, buffalo, deer and reptiles. Also, repeated cases of attacks on a person were recorded.
At first glance, these lizards seem very clumsy and unhurried. However, when running over short distances, the monitor lizard is able to reach speeds of up to 20 km / h. They hunt relatively large prey from an ambush, sometimes knocking the victim down with blows from a powerful tail, often breaking her legs in the process.
The lizards are at the top the food chain islands. And this is their victim - a deer:
Reptiles do not have poisonous teeth, but their bite is most often fatal. Having tracked down a deer, a wild boar or other large prey in the bushes, the monitor lizard attacks and seeks to inflict a laceration on the animal, into which many bacteria from the oral cavity are introduced. As a result of such an attack, blood poisoning occurs in the victim, the animal gradually weakens and dies after a while. The dragons of Komodo Island can only follow the victim and wait until he dies.
Tourists and monitor lizards are separated neither by a fence with barbed wire, nor by any moat, nothing to inspire confidence in safety. Groups of tourists are usually accompanied by rangers, armed with long poles with a forked end to protect themselves from possible dragon attacks.
Monitor lizards use burrows 1-5 meters long as shelters, which they dig with their powerful paws with claws.
Komodo dragons are less dangerous to humans than crocodiles or sharks. However, the number of deaths due to untimely medical assistance after bites (and, as a result, blood poisoning) reaches 99%!
To get food at a height, the monitor lizard can stand on its hind legs, using its tail as a support. Komodo dragons are good climbers and spend a lot of time in trees.
About 1,700 monitor lizards live on Komodo Island. On the neighboring island of Rinca - about 1,200 individuals. According to scientists, Australia should be considered the birthplace of Komodo monitor lizards.
Cannibalism is common among Komodo monitor lizards: adult lizards often eat smaller individuals. Therefore, as soon as the cubs are born, they immediately instinctively climb a tree, looking for shelter there.Do you believe in the existence of dragons? If not, then by all means read our article. It might shake your confidence. After all, in fact, on the distant island of Komodo lives so big lizard that the locals confidently call her a dragon. And not only locals. The name Komodo dragon is scientific, it is also used by professionals.
You will learn about how the largest lizards in the world live from our material.
History reference
These giants were first discovered in 1912 on Komodo Island. It is easy to guess that the name of the big lizard is connected with this.
Since then, these creatures have been an object scientific research. Scientists have established that the history of the evolution of this species is associated with Australia. From a historical ancestor Varanus separated about 40 million years ago and emigrated to this remote mainland. For a while, the giants lived in Australia and nearby islands. Later, for various reasons, monitor lizards were pushed back to the islands of Indonesia, where they settled. Scientists suggest that this is due to changes in the relief and seismic activity. Komodo Island itself, by the way, is also of volcanic origin. It is worth noting that the relocation of bloodthirsty giants to the islands saved many representatives Australian fauna from total extermination. The big lizard has mastered new territories and dominates there to this day.
Appearance
How big can a Komodo dragon be? It's hard to imagine, but the Komodo dragon lizard is comparable in size to a young crocodile.
Scientists took measurements in a sample of 12 individuals and described them external features. The studied monitor lizards reached a length of 2.25-2.6 meters, and their weight was 25-59 kilograms. But these figures are average. Several much more outstanding cases have been recorded and described. The length of some lizards reaches 3 or even more meters, and the largest known specimen weighed more than one and a half centners.
The skin of the monitor lizard is dark green, rough, often covered with small yellowish spots and leathery spikes. These animals have a powerful physique, strong short legs with sharp claws. Powerful jaws with large teeth at first glance give out a fierce predator in this beast. A long and mobile forked tongue completes the picture.
View Features
Despite its impressive size and apparent sluggishness, the dragon lizard is an excellent swimmer, runner and rock climber. Komodo monitor lizards are excellent tree climbers, they can even swim to a neighboring island, and not a single potential victim can escape from them at short distances.
komodo dragon is not only an excellent tactician, but also a brilliant strategist. If this predator has its eye on a prey that is too large, it can use more than just brute force. The monitor lizard knows how to wait, he is able to drag around a dying beast for weeks, anticipating the coming feast.
How dragons live today
The big lizard does not like the company of relatives and shuns them. Monitor lizards lead a solitary lifestyle, and contact their own kind only during the mating season. These contacts are by no means limited to love pleasures. Males lead bloody battles among themselves, contesting the rights to females and territories.
These predators lead daytime look life, sleep at night, and hunt at dawn. Like other reptiles, Komodo monitor lizards are cold-blooded, they do not tolerate temperature extremes well. And from scorching sun rays forced to hide in the shadows.
The birth of the dragon
Many interesting facts about lizards are related to the continuation of the species. After a bloody fight, which often ends in the death of one of the fighters, the winner gets the right to start a family. These animals do not form permanent families; in a year the ritual will be repeated.
The chosen one of the winner lays about two dozen eggs. She guards the clutch for about eight months to small predators or even the closest relatives did not steal the eggs. But from birth, dragon children are deprived of maternal caress. Having hatched, they find themselves alone with the harsh island reality and at first survive only thanks to the ability to hide.
Differences between monitor lizards of different sex and age
Sexual demorphism in these creatures is not too pronounced. Large sizes are inherent in dragons of both sexes, but males are somewhat larger and more massive than females.
The cub is born inconspicuous, which helps him hide from predators and hungry relatives. Growing up, a large lizard acquires a rich color. Juveniles have bright spots on bright green skin that fades with age.
Hunting
If you are attracted to interesting facts about lizards, this issue requires the most careful study. On the islands, no natural enemies, they can safely be called the top link of the food chain.
Monitor lizards prey on almost all of their neighbors. They even attack buffaloes. Archaeologists who have established that several thousand years ago the islands were inhabited do not exclude that it was some species of large lizards, related to the modern Komodo monitor lizard, that caused their complete extermination.
Do not shun giant lizards and carrion. They gladly feast on those thrown up by the sea. underwater inhabitants or corpses of land animals. Cannibalism is also common.
Modern giants lead a solitary life, but on the hunt they can spontaneously stray into bloodthirsty flocks. And where their powerful muscles, teeth and claws are powerless, they use more sophisticated weapons that deserve special attention.
Poison
About the behavior of these amazing creatures known for a long time. Scientists have found that monitor lizards sometimes bite the victim, and then roam after it without showing aggression. The unfortunate animal has no chance, it weakens and slowly dies. It was once believed that the cause of the rapid spread of a deadly infection is the pathogenic microflora that settles in the oral cavity of monitor lizards while eating carrion.
But recent studies have proven that this creature has poisonous glands. The poison of the monitor lizard is not as strong as that of some snakes; it cannot instantly kill. The victim dies gradually.
By the way, here it is worth mentioning one more record. The Komodo dragon is not only the largest lizard in the world, but also the largest poisonous creature.
Danger to people
The status of a rare species and the mention in the Red Book raises the question of who is more dangerous to whom. Komodo dragons are a rare species hunting is prohibited.
But one cannot count on reciprocal pacifism. There are known cases of monitor lizard attacks on humans. If you do not go to the hospital in time, where the patient will receive complex treatment, neutralize the poison and administer an antibiotic, there is a high risk lethal outcome. Especially dangerous monitor lizards for children. They often encroach on human corpses, as a result of which it is customary on the island to protect the graves with concrete slabs.
In general, man and the largest lizard in the world coexist quite peacefully. Unique parks are organized on the islands of Komodo, Rincha, Gili Motang and Flores, where many tourists come every year to admire unusual and amazing reptiles.
The Komodo dragon is the largest lizard species in existence today.
Adult specimens of Komodo monitor lizards reach a weight of 70 kg and a body length of up to 3 m. It is worth noting that in captivity this monitor lizard can be even larger.
The adult has a dark brown color with a yellow speck. cutting edge monitor lizard teeth are somewhat reminiscent of a saw blade. This structure of the tooth allows the animal to easily butcher the carcass of its prey.
Habitat of Komodo monitor lizards
The habitat of this lizard is very localized. It is distributed only on the islands of Indonesia, such as Flores, Rinka, Jili Motang and Komodo. From the name of the last island, in fact, the name of this species comes. Studies show that these lizards left Australia 900,000 years ago and moved to the islands.
Komodo dragon lifestyle
These lizards form groups only during the mating season and during feeding. The rest of the time, stay alone. Activity is shown mainly during daylight hours. Being in the shade for the first part of the day, they go hunting in the second half, when the heat subsides somewhat. They spend the night in shelters, from which they crawl out only in the morning.
Monitor lizard keeps dry areas well-lit by the sun. Usually these are savannahs, dry forests of the tropics and arid plains. From May to October it inhabits dry riverbeds. In order to profit from carrion, it often visits the coast. Varan is an excellent swimmer. Cases have been noted when these lizards even swam from island to island.
Burrows up to 5 meters deep serve as a refuge for monitor lizards. The lizards dig these holes on their own. In this they are helped by their powerful paws with sharp claws. Younger monitor lizards, unable to dig their own similar holes, find shelter in hollows and cracks in trees. The monitor lizard is able to reach speeds of up to 20 km/h for a short time. To get to food at a certain height, the monitor lizard is able to rise on its hind legs.
AT natural environment habitat adult lizards do not meet enemies. However, young animals can often become prey birds of prey and snakes.
In captivity, these lizards rarely live up to 25 years, although, according to some reports, in wild environment monitor lizards can live up to half a century.
Feeding the Komodo dragon
Komodo dragons feed on a variety of animals. The diet includes fish, crabs, lizards, turtles, rats, snakes. The lizard also feeds on birds and insects. Of the large animals, deer, horses and even buffaloes sometimes become prey. In especially hungry years, monitor lizards do not disdain to eat individuals of their own species. In this case, as a rule, very small individuals and young animals become victims of cannibalism.
Adults very often feed on carrion. Sometimes the method of obtaining such carrion is very interesting.
The monitor lizard, having tracked down a large animal, suddenly attacks it, inflicting wounds on it, into which poison and bacteria from the oral cavity of this lizard will get. The monitor lizard then follows its prey in anticipation of its death.
Such persecution can last from several hours to several weeks. These lizards feel carrion well thanks to their surprisingly developed sense of smell.
Today, poaching within the habitat of monitor lizards causes great harm and reduces the number of large ungulates. Because of this, monitor lizards are often forced to settle for smaller prey. The consequence of this state of affairs is a decrease in the average size of adult Komodo dragons. This size has decreased by 25% over the past 10 years.
Reproduction of Komodo dragons
Sexual maturity comes to these lizards in the tenth year of existence. Until this time, only a small part of individuals survive. As for the sexual structure, females occupy only 23% of the entire population.
Due to the huge competition during the mating season, there are fights between males for females. In these fights, adult experienced individuals often win. The old and the young, as a rule, remain out of work.
mating season in monitor lizards starts at winter time. Having mated, the female is taken to search for a place for masonry. As a rule, such places are compost heaps created by weed chickens as nests. These heaps are natural incubators for Komodo dragon eggs. In these heaps, females dig deep burrows. Laying takes place in summer period from July to August. There are about 20 eggs in one clutch. With a diameter of 6 cm and a length of 10 cm, the eggs weigh about two hundred grams.
The Komodo monitor lizard (giant Indonesian monitor lizard, Komodo dragon) (lat. Varanus komodoensis) is the largest in the world. predatory reptile belongs to the order of scaly, the superfamily of monitor lizards, the family of monitor lizards, the genus of monitor lizards. The Komodo monitor lizard, which is also called the "dragon of Komodo Island", got its name from one of its habitats.
Seasoned and strong monitor lizards easily cope with more impressive prey: wild boars, buffaloes, and goats. Often gets into the teeth of adult Komodo monitor lizards livestock, and , who came to the reservoirs for a drink or accidentally met on the way of this dangerous lizard. Monitor lizard from Komodo Island is also dangerous for humans, there are known cases of these predators attacking people. If there is not enough food large monitor lizards may attack smaller relatives. When eating food, the Komodo dragon can swallow very large pieces due to the movable connection of the bones of the lower jaw and a capacious stomach, which tends to stretch.
Komodo dragon hunting.
The principle of hunting the Komodo monitor lizard is quite cruel. Sometimes a large predatory lizard attacks its prey from an ambush, suddenly knocking down its “future dinner” with a powerful and sharp blow of the tail. At the same time, the impact force is so great that often potential prey gets leg fractures. 12 out of 17 deer die on the spot in a fight with a lizard. However, sometimes the victim manages to escape, though she can get severe injuries in the form of torn tendons or lacerations in the abdomen or neck area, which leads to inevitable death. The poison of the monitor lizard and the bacteria that are contained in the saliva of the reptile weaken the victim. At big booty, for example, in a buffalo, death can occur only 3 weeks after a fight with a monitor lizard. Some sources indicate that the giant Komodo monitor lizard will catch up with its prey by the smell and traces of blood to the point of complete exhaustion. Some animals manage to escape and heal their wounds, other animals fall into the clutches of predators, and others die from wounds inflicted by monitor lizard. An excellent sense of smell allows the Komodo dragon to smell food and the smell of blood at a distance of up to 9.5 km. And when the victim still dies, monitor lizards run to the smell of carrion to eat the dead animal.
Komodo dragon venom.
Previously, it was believed that the saliva of the Komodo monitor lizard contains only a harmful "cocktail" of pathogenic bacteria, to which the predatory lizard is immune. However, relatively recently, scientists have identified in the monitor lizard the presence of a pair of poisonous glands located on the lower jaw and producing special toxic proteins that cause a bitten victim to reduce blood clotting, hypothermia, paralysis, lowering blood pressure and loss of consciousness. The glands have a primitive structure: they do not have channels in the teeth, as, for example, in snakes, but open at the base of the teeth with ducts. Thus, the bite of a Komodo monitor lizard is poisonous.
