Dragon reptile. Little dragons of our planet. A formidable and voracious predator

Dragon from Komodo Island (lat. Varanus komodoensis), also known as the Komodo monitor lizard, also known as the giant Indonesian monitor lizard, is a lizard with the most impressive dimensions in the world.

flickr/Antoni Sesen

The average weight of the giant is 90 kg, and the body length is, accordingly, 2.5 m, while the tail occupies almost half of the body. And the length of the most powerful specimen, the parameters of which were officially recorded, exceeded 3 meters and weighed 160 kg.

Appearance komodo dragon the most interesting one - either a lizard, or a dragon, or a dinosaur. And the island aborigines believe that this creature is most similar to an alligator, and therefore they call it buaya darat, which translated from the local dialect means land crocodile. And although the Komodo dragon has only one head and does not spew out flames from its nostrils, there is undoubtedly something aggressive in the appearance of this reptile.

This impression is reinforced by the color of the monitor lizard - dark brown, with yellowish splashes, and (especially!) the appearance of the teeth - compressed from the sides, with cutting, jagged edges. A quick glance at this perfect arsenal, which is a “dragon” jaw, is enough to understand: the Komodo dragon is not to be trifled with. With more than 60 teeth and a jaw structure reminiscent of a shark's mouth, isn't this the perfect killing machine?

What makes up the diet of a giant reptile? No, no, monitor lizards have only external similarities with vegetarian dinosaurs: the gastronomic preferences of the Komodo dragon are strikingly different from the food preferences ancient ancestor. The lizard's tastes are distinguished by an enviable variety: it does not disdain carrion and readily absorbs any living creature - from insects and birds to horses, buffalo, deer and even its own brothers. Maybe it is for this reason that newborn lizards, having barely hatched, immediately leave their mother, hiding from her in the dense crown of trees?

Indeed, cannibalism is a quite common phenomenon among Komodo dragons: the lunch menu of adult monitor lizards often includes younger, smaller relatives. A hungry monitor lizard can also pose a threat to humans, and there are often cases when the prey matches the attacker in its weight category. How do lizards manage to defeat their prey? Monitor lizards stalk large prey from ambush, and at the moment of attack they either knock down the victim with a powerful blow of the tail, breaking its legs, or bite their teeth into the flesh of a wild boar or deer, inflicting a deadly laceration.

The chances of survival of a wounded animal are scanty, since during a bite dangerous bacteria from the lizard’s mouth, as well as poison from the venom glands, enter its body lower jaw reptiles. The inflammation develops at an accelerated pace, and the Komodo dragon can only wait for the victim to completely lose his strength and be unable to resist. He stubbornly follows the wounded prey, without letting it out of sight. Sometimes such tracking lasts up to three weeks - after that time, a buffalo bitten by a monitor lizard dies.

In the photo there is me, the dragon and a slightly excited Lera :)

Those who want to see these handsome guys in natural environment habitat would have to go to the Indonesian islands, since Komodo dragons live there. However, daredevils who are planning such a trip should be as careful as possible: monitor lizards have a keen sense of smell, and even a tiny drop of blood from a minor scratch on the body can attract a lizard located at a distance of 5 km with its smell. There have been cases of attacks on tourists, so rangers accompanying tourist groups are usually armed with long, strong poles. Just in case.

website - Let's dream together, today he will surprise you with facts about himself ancient lizard planets. Dragon from Komodo Island, have you heard of this? If not, then you have definitely seen the films.

It was these reptiles that became the prototype for the main character in horror films. They inspired directors to create the most incredible stories.

Giant monitor lizards actually exist: they are lizards from the island of Komodo.

Where do dragons live and how did they appear on the islands of Indonesia?

There is such a term: island gigantism. This is a natural phenomenon: in a closed and isolated space, from generation to generation, animals increase in size.

Almost like in the movie “Jurassic Park”, but there scientists created suitable conditions. And everything happened in Indonesia naturally. Although the theory is quite controversial.

A long time ago, in Australia (an isolated continent) and on the island of Java, huge predators lived and lived - giant monitor lizards. This is the home of dragons. The oldest fossilized remains of them date back to almost 4 million years ago. The extinction that befell many animal species during the Pleistocene era did not affect the Komodo dragons.

How did the lizards survive?

They promptly changed their location and took root on the islands of Indonesia closest to the continent. The ocean sank and rose. The continents moved, and they calmly waited on the islands. This helped save the lizards from extinction. So they ended up on the island of Flores and those nearby.

The giant monitor lizard lives only on five Indonesian islands - Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang and Padar.

What do lizards look like?

They are really scary and appearance, and scaly skin, and a forked tongue, like a snake. They can reach up to 80 and sometimes up to 100 kilograms. Possess poisonous bites, allowing them to hunt and kill large animals and sometimes even people. But first things first.

The dark terracotta hide has many protective lamellar ossifications. This is a kind of “land crocodile” armor. The average lizard is not too huge: it weighs only 50 kilograms and is up to 3 meters in length. Sometimes there are specimens that want to get into the book of records and much more.

Komodo dragons have no direct predators

Loners in life

Komodo dragons are solitary predators. They gather in groups only for a period mating games and during big hunts (there are such things).

They live in burrows up to 4-5 meters deep or in tree hollows (mostly young people). Everything is like people. Life expectancy is up to 45-50 years. Young monitor lizards easily climb trees.

A direct threat to their lives can only be big crocodiles and people.

Sprinters in the jungle

Despite their external clumsiness, these are capable of a lightning-fast ambush attack. Don't underestimate their abilities. In terms of speed, he can compete with a sprinter over short distances. Speeds up to 20 km/h.

A special hole under the tongue allows it to move and breathe at the same time when running. The pump pumps air and does not take away energy in pursuit, increasing endurance and chances of winning.

What do Komodo dragons eat?

Predatory lizards. My favorite food is meat. And it doesn’t matter at all whose. A large or small animal, fish, turtle or large insect. They can even eat a relative for lunch. They do not hesitate to tear open their own burrows with their cubs and feast on them. In the video below you can see him feasting on snake eggs.

Often, during periods of famine, they tear up fresh and not so fresh graves and eat the corpses. Therefore, the population of the islands (Indonesians) bury their inhabitants by covering the graves with cement slabs.

Hunting rules - the victim has no chance

Like crocodiles, giant monitor lizards severely injure their prey with their first bite. Ripping out huge chunks of muscle, breaking bones and tearing arteries. Therefore, the mortality rate from their bites is 99%. The victims have virtually no chance of survival.

In addition to severe trauma, the saliva of monitor lizards contains poison, which quickly causes sepsis. In the lower jaw of the mammal there are 2 poisonous glands, through which the poison enters.

Photos of the Komodo dragon only confirm speculation about extinct dinosaurs.

Sharp teeth rip through prey like a can opener

Unusual ability to reproduce without fertilization

The lizard population is 3:1, with many more males than females. Which makes the battle for the female a deadly tournament of the fittest.

They lay up to 20 eggs in deep burrows. For 9 whole months the female guards the nest with the offspring. Up to 2 years old, young individuals live in the crowns of trees.

These reptiles have the ability: parthenogenesis. Reproduction by sexual and non-sexual means. Eggs develop easily even without direct fertilization.

In case of storms and earthquakes. Females can reproduce without males.

Toxic monitor lizard saliva

The poison helps slow down the victim's blood clotting, causes muscle paralysis, sharply lowers blood pressure and causes hypothermia, followed by shock and loss of consciousness. This allows the predator to easily finish off and eat the unfortunate one.

The toxicity of saliva helps the predators themselves digest food faster.

Thanks to a good sense of smell and sense of smell, the smell of blood can easily determine the direction to the victim within a radius of 5–9 kilometers. A forked tongue also contributes to this.

In one meal they can eat up to 85% of their weight in meat own body. The stomach tends to stretch greatly.

The high immunity of Komodo dragons allows them to survive in unfavorable conditions with minimal losses

A quick way to have lunch

To swallow prey faster, they have come up with an unusual method.

They rest their prey against a tree or large stone and pull their body against it, bracing themselves with their paws.

They react sharply to even the slightest smell of blood. There are known cases of attacks on tourists with minor scratches on their arms or legs.

The high immunity of Komodo dragons allows them to survive in adverse conditions with minimal losses.

For a long time it was assumed that the saliva of lizards contains a large number of pathogenic bacteria and microorganisms. Until 2009, this was believed to be the case, until Brian Fry’s research proved that the venom of lizards is not as toxic and poisonous as that of snakes.

They react acutely to even the slightest smell of blood

Unusual strategy in dragon hunting

The lizard's jaws are not as strong as those of its closest relative, the crocodile. And they lose noticeably in newtons. 2600 N versus almost 7,000 N of the crocodile. The monitor lizard has a much weaker grip, so it is used unusual strategy attacks.

As we already wrote in the article, they tear apart their prey by making chaotic head movements. Waving in all directions, finishing off the unfortunate man and dragging him into the water.

Lizards have a different tactic: having firmly grabbed the animal, they begin to pull it in their direction, bracing themselves with powerful paws and helping with long claws.

Sharp teeth rip open the victim like a can opener. Pieces of flesh are torn off and fatal wounds are inflicted. Violent jerks towards oneself and rotation of the neck allow one to inflict wounds that are incompatible with life.
In such a fight there is only one winner - the Komodo monitor lizard.

Video: 8 facts about the Komodo dragon

They have no direct predators (by the way, neither do humans), and currently they feel quite at ease. It’s as if they are waiting for the right moment to lead the hierarchy. True, they do not increase in size. Maybe this is it for now?

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Indonesian Komodo island interesting not only for its nature, but also for its animals: among tropical jungle This island is where real people live" dragons»…

Such " the Dragon"reaches a length of 4-5 meters, its weight ranges from 150 to 200 kilograms. These are the largest individuals. The Indonesians themselves call the “dragon” land crocodile».

Komodo dragon is a diurnal animal, it does not hunt at night. The monitor lizard is omnivorous, it can easily eat a gecko, bird eggs, a snake, or catch a gaping bird. Locals They say that the monitor lizard drags sheep and attacks buffalo and wild pigs. There are known cases when komodo dragon attacked a victim weighing up to 750 kilograms. In order to eat such a huge animal, the “dragon” would bite through the tendons, thereby immobilizing the victim, and then shred the unfortunate creature with its iron jaws. Once a monitor lizard swallowed a furiously squealing dog...


Here on Komodo island, nature dictates its own rules, dividing the year into dry and wet seasons. In the dry season, the monitor lizard has to adhere to “fasting,” but in the rainy season, the “dragon” does not deny itself anything. Komodo dragon does not tolerate heat well, his body does not have sweat glands. And if the animal's temperature exceeds 42.7 degrees Celsius, the monitor lizard will die from heatstroke.


Long tongue endowed with komodo dragon- this is very important olfactory organ, like our nose. By sticking out its tongue, the monitor lizard catches odors. The tactility of the monitor lizard's tongue is not inferior to the sensitivity of smell in dogs. A hungry “dragon” is able to track down its prey using a single trace left by the animal a few hours ago.

Juveniles komodo dragon painted in dark gray colors. There are orange-red ring stripes throughout the animal's body. With age, the color of the monitor lizard changes, “ the Dragon» acquires an even dark color.

Young monitor lizards, up to a year old, small: their length reaches one meter. By the end of the first year of life, the monitor lizard already begins to hunt. Kids train on chickens, rodents, frogs, grasshoppers, crabs and the most harmless - snails. The matured “dragon” begins to hunt for more big catch: goats, horses, cows, sometimes on people. The monitor lizard gets close to its victim and attacks with lightning speed. After which he throws the animal to the ground and tries to stun it as quickly as possible. If it attacks a person, the monitor lizard first bites off the legs, then tears the body into pieces.

Adults komodo dragon They eat their prey in exactly the same way - by spreading the victim into pieces. After the monitor lizard's prey is killed, the "dragon" rips open the belly and eats the animal's entrails within twenty-five minutes. The monitor lizard eats meat in large pieces, swallowing it along with the bones. For fast passage food, the monitor lizard constantly throws its head up.

Local residents tell how one day, while eating a deer, a monitor lizard pushed the animal's leg down its throat until it felt like it was stuck. Then the animal made a sound similar to a rumble and began to frantically wave its head, falling on its front paws. Varan fought until the paw flew out of his mouth.


While eating an animal " the Dragon"stands on four outstretched legs. In the process of eating, you can see how the monitor lizard’s belly fills and stretches all the way to the ground. Having eaten, the monitor lizard goes into the shade of trees to digest food in peace and quiet. If something remains of the victim, young monitor lizards flock to the carcass. During the hungry dry season, lizards feed on their own fat. Average life expectancy komodo dragon is 40 years old.

Komodo dragons have long ceased to be a curiosity... But one unresolved question remains: how did such interesting animals get to Komodo Island in our time?

The appearance of a huge lizard is shrouded in mystery. There is a version that the Komodo dragon is the progenitor of the modern crocodile. One thing is clear: the monitor lizard living on Komodo Island is the largest lizard in the world. Paleontologists put forward the version that about 5 - 10 million years ago the ancestors komodo lizard appeared in Australia. And this assumption is confirmed by one significant fact: the bones of the only known representative of large reptiles were found in Pleistocene and Pliocene deposits Australia.


It is believed that after the volcanic islands formed and cooled, the lizard settled on them, in particular on Komodo island. But here the question arises again: how did the lizard get to the island located 500 miles from Australia? The answer has not yet been found, but to this day fishermen are afraid to go sailing near Komodo Islands. Let's think that it helped the "dragon" sea ​​current. If the put forward version is correct, then what did the lizards eat all the time when there were no buffalos, no deer, no horses, no cows and pigs on the island... After all, cattle were brought to the islands by man much later than the voracious lizards appeared on them.
Scientists claim that in those days there lived on the island giant turtles, elephants, whose height reached one and a half meters. It turns out that the ancestors of modern Komodo lizards hunted elephants, albeit dwarf ones.
One way or another, but Komodo dragons These are “living fossils”.

Dinosaurs in miniature, little dragons, whatever they call them. And these are all the lizards scurrying around us, a suborder of reptiles from the order Scaly. These include all scaly animals, except snakes and two-year-olds. Let's look at this beauty of the animal world of the planet and read the facts about them.

Today there are almost 6,000 species of tailed reptiles in the world.

Representatives of different families differ in size, color, habits, habitat, some exotic species are listed in the Red Book. In nature, the most common reptile can be considered a true lizard, average length whose body is 10-40 cm.

Unlike snakes, lizards have movable, separated eyelids, as well as an elastic, elongated body with long tail, covered with keratinized scales, which change several times per season. The paws are clawed.

A lizard's tongue may have different shapes, color and size, it is usually movable and easily pulled out of the mouth. It is with their tongue that many lizards catch prey.

Most lizards are capable, in case of danger, of throwing away their tail (autotomy). By contracting the cartilaginous muscles at the base of the tail, the lizard discards the tail and grows it again, albeit in a slightly shortened form.

Sometimes a lizard grows back not one, but two or three tails:

The longest living is the brittle lizard. A male brittle lizard (Anguis fragilis) lived at the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark, for over 54 years, from 1892 to 1946.

While most animals perceive the world in black and white, lizards see their surroundings in orange.

There are 2 ways of lizard reproduction: laying eggs and viviparity.

Females of small species of lizards lay no more than 4 eggs, while large ones lay up to 18 eggs. The weight of an egg can vary from 4 to 200 grams. The egg size of the world's smallest lizard, the round-toed gecko, does not exceed 6 mm in diameter. The egg size of the world's largest lizard, the Komodo dragon, reaches a length of 10 cm.

Gila Monster Lizard (HELODERMA SUSPECTUM)
Their bite is poisonous. When bitten, grooves in the tiny, sharp teeth release a painful neurotoxin into the victim's body.

Roundhead (PHRYNOCEPHALUS)
It is called the toad-headed agama - it is small, lives in empty spaces and is distinguished by one feature - communication in round-headed agama occurs with the help of a tail, which they curl, and also interesting body vibrations, with which they quickly bury themselves in the sand. Fancy mouth folds scare away enemies.

The infraorder iguana-like (lat. Iguania) has 14 families, the most a prominent representative which is a chameleon inhabiting Africa, Madagascar, the Middle East, Hawaii and some American states

Common iguanas (green)

The iguana is the fastest lizard - the speed of movement on land is 34.9 km/h - recorded in the black iguana (Ctenosaura), living in Costa Rica.

Marine iguanas
Marine iguanas Galapagos Islands, whom Darwin nicknamed “demons of darkness,” spend all their time diving under water and scraping off the rocks overgrown plants that iguanas feed on.

Chameleon
The chameleon is a highly unique reptile. Its toes are webbed, it has an extremely prehensile tail, and it shows its attitude by changing color, binocular-like eyeballs moving independently of each other, while a very long and sticky tongue shoots out and catches its prey.

Unusual even among chameleons is Brookesia minima or the dwarf leaf chameleon. It is without a doubt one of the smallest reptiles known to man.

The largest lizard was the monitor lizard, exhibited in 1937 at the St. Louis Zoo, Missouri, USA. Its length was 3.10 m and its weight was 166 kg.

The longest lizard is the thin-bodied Salvador monitor lizard, or musk deer (Varanus salvadorii), from Papua New Guinea. It is precisely measured to reach a length of 4.75 m, but approximately 70% of its total length is in the tail.

Geckos
Geckos are a large family of small and average size very peculiar lizards, characterized in most cases by biconcave (amphicoelous) vertebrae and the loss of the temporal arches.


Many types of geckos have amazing camouflage abilities - their skin darkens or lightens depending on the light. environment. During experiments with wall geckos, their eyes were closed, but they continued to change color according to the usual algorithm.

Gecko lizards do not have eyelids, so they are forced to periodically wet a special transparent membrane over their eyes with their tongue.

Flying dragon and gecko's foot
Flying dragons are a genus of the subfamily of Afro-Arabian dragons of the family Agamidae; unites about thirty Asian species arboreal insectivorous lizards. Other Russian names of this genus are also found in the literature - dragons, flying dragons

The frilled lizard is a lizard from the agamidae family. In the genus Chlamydosaurus is the only species.

There are also species of lizards in which males are completely absent. Lizards Cnemidophorus neomexicanus reproduce without laying eggs using parthenogenesis (a type of reproduction in which the participation of a male individual is not necessary).

The lesser belt-tailed lizard (Cordylus cataphractus) is a species of lizard from the family of belt-tailed lizards.

Komodo monitor lizards are the most... large lizards in the world

The Komodo monitor lizard, or giant Indonesian monitor lizard, or Komodo monitor lizard (lat. Varanus komodoensis) is a species of lizard from the monitor lizard family.

The species is distributed on the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores and Gili Motang. The natives of the islands call it ora or buaya darat ("land crocodile").

This is the largest living lizard in the world; individual representatives of this species can grow more than 3 meters in length and weigh more than 100 kilograms.

Unique national park Komodo is known throughout the world, is protected by UNESCO 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. Their main attraction is “dragons,” giant monitor lizards found nowhere else on the planet.

Appearance

Wild adult Komodo dragons are usually between 2.25 and 2.6 m in length and weigh around 47 kg, males are larger than females and in some cases can reach 3 meters in length and weigh around 70 kg.

However, in captivity, these lizards reach even larger sizes - the largest known specimen for which there is reliable data was kept at the St. Louis Zoo and had a length of 3.13 m and weighed 166 kg.

The length of the tail is about half of the total body length.

Currently, due to the sharp decline in the number of large wild ungulates on the islands due to poaching, even adult male monitor lizards are forced to switch to smaller prey.

Because of this the average size Monitor lizard population is gradually decreasing and is now about 75% of the average size of a mature individual 10 years ago.

Hunger sometimes causes the death of monitor lizards.

The color of adult monitor lizards is dark brown, usually with small yellowish spots and specks. Young animals are brighter in color; on their backs there are rows of reddish-orange and yellowish ocellated spots, merging into stripes on the neck and tail.

The teeth of the Komodo dragon are compressed laterally and have serrated cutting edges. Such teeth are well suited for opening and tearing large prey into pieces of meat.

Spreading

Komodo dragons live on several islands of Indonesia - Komodo (1,700 individuals), Rinka (1,300 individuals), Gili Motang (100 individuals) and Flores (about 2,000 individuals, pushed closer to the coast by human activity), located in the Lesser Sunda Islands group.

According to researchers, Australia should be considered the homeland of Komodo dragons, where they probably this type developed, after which it moved to nearby islands about 900 thousand years ago.

From the history of discovery

In 1912, a pilot made an emergency landing on Komodo, an island 30 km long and 20 km wide, located between the islands of Sumbawa and Flores, part of the Sunda archipelago.

Komodo is almost entirely covered with mountains and dense tropical vegetation, and its only inhabitants were exiles, once subjects of the Sumbawa Rajah.

The pilot told amazing things about his stay in this tiny exotic world: he saw huge, terrible dragons there, four meters in length, which, as local residents claimed, devour pigs, goats and deer, and sometimes attack horses.

Of course, no one believed a word he said.

However, some time later, Major P.-A. Owens, director of Butensorgsky botanical garden, proved that these giant reptiles do exist. In December 1918, Owens, who set himself the goal of learning the secret of the Komodo monsters, wrote to the manager of the island of Flores for civil affairs, van Stein.

Residents of the island told that in the vicinity of Labuan Badio, as well as on the nearby island of Komodo, there lives a “buaya-darat”, that is, an “earth crocodile”.

Van Stein became interested in their message and firmly decided to find out as much as possible about this curious animal, and if he was lucky, then get one individual. When his service brought him to Komodo, he received the information he was interested in from two local pearl fishers - Koka and Aldegon.

They both claimed that among the giant lizards there were specimens six or even seven meters in length, and one of them even boasted that he had personally killed several of these lizards.

During his stay on Komodo, van Stein was not as lucky as his new acquaintances. Nevertheless, he managed to obtain a specimen 2 m 20 cm long, the skin and photograph of which he sent to Major Owens.

In the accompanying letter, he said that he would try to catch a larger specimen, although this would not be easy: the natives were afraid of the teeth of these monsters, as well as the blows of their terrible tails.

Then the Butensorg Zoological Museum hastily sent him a Malay specialist in animal capture to help. However, van Stein was soon transferred to Timor and was unable to participate in the hunt for the mysterious dragon, which this time ended successfully.

Raja Ritara put hunters and dogs at the disposal of the Malay, and he was lucky enough to catch four “land crocodiles” alive, and two of them turned out to be quite good specimens: their length was a little less than three meters.

And some time later, according to van Stein, some Sergeant Becker shot a four-meter-long specimen.

In these monsters, witnesses of bygone eras, Owens easily recognized monitor lizards of a large variety. He described this species in the Bulletin of the Butensorg Botanical Garden, calling it Varanus komodensis.

Later it turned out that this huge dragon is also found on the tiny islands of Ritya and Padar, lying to the west of Flores. Finally, it became known that this beast was mentioned in the Bim archives dating back to around 1840.