Where does the Komodo dragon live? Komodo dragon: description of where it lives. Unusual strategy in dragon hunting

The dragons of Komodo Island are without a doubt the most stunning animal discovery of the 20th century on planet Earth. In 1912, while flying over the group of Lesser Sunda Islands in , a Dutch pilot was forced to land on the shore of a small uninhabited island due to a breakdown. Having settled comfortably on the beach, the pilot began to repair his plane when he suddenly felt that someone was standing behind him. He turned around and was stunned...

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF

Kingdom: Animalia.
Phylum: Chordata.
Class: Reptiles (Reptilia).
Squad: Squamates.
Family: Monitor lizards (Varanidae).
Genus: Monitor lizards (Varanus).
Species: Komodo dragon (Varanus komodensis).

WHY IS IT LISTED IN THE RED BOOK

Scientists estimate that there are between 4 and 5 thousand Komodo dragons left on Earth. Why did it happen so? There are many reasons: and high volcanic activity, and pollution environment, and illegal hunting of monitor lizards for their skin and claws, and tourism. Some reptiles die of hunger, as poachers kill animals that are easiest for monitor lizards to hunt. National Park Komodo was founded in 1980 specifically to protect and preserve this unique species.

WHERE DOES IT LIVE?

The Komodo dragon lives in Indonesia, but only on a limited number of islands: Rinca, Gili Motang, Florex and Komodo. Based on the name of the last place, the monitor lizard received the name “Komodo”. Scientists believe that the homeland of the species is. Presumably, about 900 thousand years ago, the species penetrated the Indonesian islands, where it successfully took root. These animals avoid meeting people in every possible way.

HOW TO FIND OUT

The Komodo dragon is the largest lizard on Earth. IN wildlife The weight of monitor lizards reaches 70 kg, but when kept in captivity they can be much larger. The largest Komodo dragon known to science reached a body length of 3.13 m and weighed 166 kg. In this case, about half the length is the tail. The skin of monitor lizards is brownish-brown and covered with light yellow specks. The color of young monitor lizards is more intense. On the back and tail of the body they have ocellated spots that can merge and form stripes. Aboriginal people often call komodo dragon"land crocodile" The nickname is justified by many features external structure reptiles. She has a stocky, squat body, short, widely spaced paws, a flattened head, and very sharp, laterally flattened teeth with jagged edges. They help to cope perfectly even with large prey. The long curved claws are impressive! With their help, monitor lizards dig deep shelter holes and hunt their victims.

LIFESTYLE AND BIOLOGY

The Komodo dragon leads a solitary lifestyle. He is quite secretive and does not like company. Only occasionally, for example in mating season or while searching for food, monitor lizards unite in small groups. The rest of the time, each individual prefers to take care of itself independently.

The Komodo dragon is highly temperature dependent. Therefore, many features of his life are influenced weather conditions. He is active during the day. He spends the night in a shelter, from which, if necessary, he can still leave and go hunting. The Komodo dragon is an excellent swimmer. It perfectly covers the distances between islands by water. Young individuals spend a lot of time in trees, while older reptiles are more often found on the ground. Despite its apparent clumsiness, the Komodo dragon can reach speeds of up to 20 km/h and get food from a small height, standing on its hind legs and leaning on its tail.

The average life expectancy is 25 years. It is assumed that they can live longer. At about 10 years old, monitor lizards reach sexual maturity. The males fight for the female, and the winner gets the right to continue his family line. The female buries a clutch of 20 eggs in a hole or compost heap. The female remains guarding the nest for eight to nine months, until the babies are born. Immediately after birth, they leave the nest and rush to the trees, where they spend the first few years of their lives.

One that cannot be called a picky eater is the Komodo dragon. He is ready to swallow anything that moves, be it a grasshopper, a frog or a dog. Its impressive size, sharp teeth and tenacious claws help it attack even such large animals as a horse or deer. Of course, he is not able to kill the animal right away. But, inflicting wounds on it that carry poison and bacteria, the monitor lizard waits patiently until its victim dies, and only then begins to eat. Monitor lizards do not disdain carrion either. In its environment, the Komodo dragon is the largest and dangerous predator, so he has no one to fear.

The Komodo dragon easily moves from one emotional state to another. A peacefully lying and seemingly calm reptile can become angry and aggressive in a matter of minutes. There are known cases of attacks by Komodo dragons on zoo employees and ordinary people. Therefore, the giant should be treated with extreme caution.

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.

The appearance of the Komodo dragon is most interesting - 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!) appearance 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 of the reptile’s lower jaw, enter its body. 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.

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. Local residents 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 most large 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”.

In December 1910, the Dutch administration on the island of Java received information from the administrator of the island of Flores (for civil affairs), Stein van Hensbrouck, that there were no people living on the outlying islands of the Lesser Sunda archipelago. known to science giant creatures.

Van Stein's report stated that in the vicinity of Labuan Badi on Flores Island, as well as on nearby Komodo Island, there lives an animal that the local natives call "buaya-darat", which means "earth crocodile".

Of course, you already guessed who we’re talking about now...

Photo 2.

According to local residents, the length of some monsters reaches seven meters, and three- and four-meter buaya-darats are common. Curator of the Butsnzorg Zoological Museum at Botanical Park The province of West Java, Peter Owen, immediately entered into correspondence with the manager of the island and asked him to organize an expedition in order to obtain a reptile unknown to European science.

This was done, although the first lizard caught was only 2 meters 20 centimeters long. Hensbroek sent her skin and photographs to Owens. In the accompanying note, he said that he would try to catch a larger specimen, although this would not be easy, since the natives were terrified of these monsters. Convinced that the giant reptile was not a myth, the zoological museum sent an animal capture specialist to Flores. As a result, the staff of the zoological museum managed to obtain four specimens of “earthen crocodiles,” two of which were almost three meters long.

Photo 3.

In 1912 Peter Owen published in the Bulletin botanical garden an article about the existence of a new species of reptile, naming an animal previously unknown to the spider Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis Ouwens). It later turned out that giant monitor lizards are found not only on Komodo, but also on the small islands of Rytya and Padar, lying to the 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 12 years later interest in the Komodo dragon resumed. Now the main researchers of the giant reptile are US zoologists. On English language this reptile became known as komodo dragon(comodo dragon). The expedition of Douglas Barden managed to catch a living specimen for the first time in 1926. In addition to two living specimens, Barden also brought 12 stuffed specimens to the United States, three of which are on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Photo 4.

Indonesia's 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 the Komodo dragon. 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 animals such as the maned sambar, Asian water buffalo, wild boar, and cynomolgus macaque.

Photo 5.

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 a length of three meters, and females are much smaller, their length is no more than two meters.

Many years of research have made it possible to thoroughly study 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-sunny areas, and are usually associated with arid plains, savannas and dry tropical forests.

Photo 6.

In the hot season (May - October) they often stick to dry river beds 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 adult relatives. Giant monitor lizards are cannibals, and adults, on occasion, will not miss the opportunity to feast on their smaller relatives. As shelter from heat and cold, monitor lizards use burrows 1-5 m long, which they dig with strong paws with long, curved and sharp claws. Tree hollows often serve as shelters for young monitor lizards.

Komodo dragons, despite their size and external clumsiness, are good runners. Over short distances, reptiles can reach speeds of up to 20 kilometers, and over long distances their speed is 10 km/h. To reach food at 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 vision, but their most important sense organ is smell. These reptiles are able to smell carrion or blood at a distance of even 11 kilometers.

Photo 7.

Most of the monitor lizard population lives in the western and northern parts of the Flores Islands - about 2000 specimens. On Komodo and Rinca there are approximately 1000 each, and on the smallest islands of the group, Gili Motang and Nusa Koda, there are only 100 individuals.

At the same time, it was noticed that the number of monitor lizards has fallen and individuals are gradually becoming smaller. 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.

Photo 8.

From modern species Only the Komodo dragon and the crocodile monitor attack prey significantly larger than itself. The crocodile monitor's teeth are very long and almost straight. This is an evolutionary adaptation for successful bird feeding (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 the tree where they spend most life.

Venomous teeth - poisonous lizards. Today there are two known types of them - the gila monster and the escorpion. They live primarily in the southwestern United States and Mexico in rocky foothills, semi-deserts and deserts. Toothworts are most active in the spring, when their favorite food, bird eggs, appears. They also feed on insects, small lizards and snakes. The poison is produced by the submandibular and sublingual salivary glands and flows through the ducts to the teeth of the lower jaw. When biting, the teeth of the poisonous teeth - long and curved back - enter the body of the victim almost half a centimeter.

Photo 9.

The menu of monitor lizards includes a wide variety of animals. They eat practically everything: large insects and their larvae, crabs and storm-washed 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 buffalos.
Giant monitor lizards do not actively pursue their prey, but more often hide it and grab it when it approaches at close range.

Photo 10.

When hunting large animals, reptiles use very intelligent tactics. Adult monitor lizards, emerging from the forest, slowly move towards grazing animals, stopping from time to time and crouching 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 - delivering a single bite to the animal's leg. This is where success lies. After all, now “ biological weapons» Komodo dragon.

Photo 11.

It has long been believed that the prey is ultimately killed by pathogens found in the monitor lizard's saliva. But in 2009, scientists found that in addition to the “deadly cocktail” of pathogenic bacteria and viruses found in saliva, to which monitor lizards themselves have immunity, reptiles are poisonous.

Research led by Bryan Fry from the University of Queensland (Australia) has shown that in terms of the number and types of bacteria typically found in the mouth of the Komodo dragon, it is not fundamentally different from other carnivores.

Moreover, as Fry states, the Komodo dragon is a very clean animal.

Komodo dragons, which inhabit the islands of Indonesia, are the most large predators on these islands. They hunt pigs, deer and Asian buffalo. 75% of pigs and deer die from the bite of a monitor lizard within 30 minutes from loss of blood, another 15% - after 3-4 hours from the poison secreted by its salivary glands.

A larger animal, a buffalo, when attacked by a monitor lizard, always, despite deep wounds, leaves the predator alive. Following his instinct, the bitten buffalo usually seeks refuge in a warm pond, the water of which is teeming with anaerobic bacteria, and eventually succumbs to infection that penetrates into 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 entering its body from an infected drinking water. The amount 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. When these proteins enter the victim’s body, they prevent blood clotting and reduce blood pressure, contribute to muscle paralysis and the development of hypothermia. The whole thing leads the victim to shock or loss of consciousness. The venom gland of Komodo dragons is more primitive than that of poisonous snakes. The gland is located on the lower jaw under the salivary glands, its ducts open at the base of the teeth, and do not exit through special channels in the poisonous teeth, like in snakes.

Photo 12.

In the oral cavity, poison and saliva mix with decaying food debris, forming a mixture in which many different deadly bacteria multiply. But this is not what surprised scientists, but the poison delivery system. It turned out to be the most complex of all similar systems in reptiles. Instead of injecting it with one blow with its teeth, like poisonous snakes, monitor lizards have to literally rub it into the wound of the victim, making jerks with their jaws. This evolutionary invention has helped giant monitor lizards survive for thousands of years.

Photo 14.

After a successful attack, time begins to work for the reptile, and the hunter is left to follow the heels of 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 give way and it falls. It's time for a feast for the monitor lizard. He slowly approaches the victim and rushes at him. His relatives come running to the smell of blood. In feeding areas, fights often occur between males of equal value. As a rule, they are cruel, but not deadly, as evidenced by the numerous scars on their bodies.

For humans, a huge head covered like a shell, with unkind, unblinking eyes, a toothy gaping mouth, from which protrudes a forked tongue, constantly in motion, a lumpy and folded body of a dark brown color on strong splayed paws with long claws and a massive tail. is the living embodiment of the image of extinct monsters of distant eras. One can only be amazed how such creatures could survive today practically unchanged.

Photo 15.

Paleontologists believe that 5-10 million years ago, the ancestors of the Komodo dragon appeared in Australia. This assumption fits well with the fact that the only known representative of large reptiles is Megalania prisca measuring from 5 to 7 m and weighing 650-700 kg was found on this continent. Megalania, and the full name of the monstrous reptile can be translated from Latin language, as a “great ancient vagabond,” preferred, like the Komodo dragon, to settle in grassy savannas and sparse forests, where he hunted mammals, including very large ones, such as diprodonts, various reptiles and birds. These were the largest poisonous creatures that ever existed on Earth.

Fortunately, these animals became extinct, but their place was taken by the Komodo dragon, and now it is these reptiles that attract thousands of people to come to the islands forgotten by time to see the last representatives of the ancient world in natural conditions.

Photo 16.

Indonesia has 17,504 islands, although these numbers are not definitive. The Indonesian government has set itself the difficult task of conducting a complete audit of all Indonesian islands without exception. And who knows, maybe after its completion there will still be open known to people animals, although not as dangerous as Komodo dragons, but certainly no less amazing!