The largest lizard name. The largest lizard in the world. Distinctive features of the Komodo dragon

IN prehistoric times The earth was inhabited by dinosaurs, foot-and-mouth diseases and mammoths. Climate change and evolution led to their extinction, but quite recently scientists discovered in distant Indonesia a lizard of monstrous size, which local residents called a dragon.

Amazing discovery

In 1912, a group of scientists exploring Komodo Island in Pacific Ocean, came across a wondrous monster that resembled a lizard in appearance, only of enormous size. Having caught one specimen with the help of Aboriginal hunters, they began to study the “dragon” in earnest.

The monster in fact turned out to be a representative of cold-blooded reptiles. According to its species characteristics, the reptile is classified as a monitor lizard. According to the place where it was found, it was called the Komodo (Komodo) or Indonesian monitor lizard. Average length reptiles – 2.5-2.8 m, and weight – up to 90 kg. This is the longest lizard on the planet. It is one of the ten largest animals on the planet. In 1937, at an exhibition in the city of San Lewis in Missouri (USA), a record specimen measuring more than 3 meters long and weighing 166 kg was presented.

Description of appearance

Komodo "monster" resembles a hybrid giant lizard and a crocodile. It has a developed jaw full of sharp teeth, short thick legs and a strong tail that equal to length torso. In adults, the color is dark brown with yellow speckles, while in young animals the skin has a brighter shade with light spots, sometimes turning into stripes.

Males are much larger than females, they are also stronger and more aggressive.

The most large lizard due to its size it seems awkward, but this is a deceptive impression. On its short legs, it reaches a speed of more than 20 km/h, is jumping, easily rises on its hind legs, leaning on its powerful tail, and swims well over long distances. Young lizards deftly climb trees.

The giant is distinguished by its vigilance, excellent hearing and amazing sense of smell. Its olfactory organs are located on its forked tongue, and thanks to them, the Indonesian monitor lizard can smell prey at a distance of 5 km! This is a kind of record in the animal world.

Studying “dragons,” scientists determined their age potential to be 50 years, although no one has yet met a monitor lizard older than 25 years.

Lifestyle

The most big lizard in the world leads a daytime lifestyle and sleeps at night. Like any cold-blooded animal, it does not tolerate temperature changes well, so it hides in the shade during the day and hunts in the morning and evening. Selects dry and sunny flat terrain or savannas. It lives in burrows up to 5 meters deep, and young foot-and-mouth mosquitoes prefer tree hollows.

These “land crocodiles” are loners. They gather in groups of several individuals only in mating season or while eating carrion together. At the same time, the hierarchy is clearly observed in the pack. Young strong males dominate, while old men, young people and females are pushed into the background.

In its habitat, foot and mouth disease is at the top of the food chain, so it has no enemies, except that very young individuals may be threatened by snakes or large birds of prey.

The victims of the Komodo reptile are large animals such as deer, buffalo, horses, wild boars, and goats. On hungry days, it does not disdain small rodents, birds, frogs, crabs, fish, even insects. There are cases of cannibalism when seasoned monitor lizards eat weaker relatives.

Dangerous predator

How does the longest lizard hunt? Most often, it attacks from an ambush, knocks down the victim with a strong blow of its tail, breaking its legs, and inflicts a laceration with its teeth. After this it releases the prey. The animal dies itself within a few hours or days from poison and blood poisoning, since the saliva of the largest reptile is teeming with toxic bacteria. During the research, scientists identified 57 different strains in her mouth, including anthrax. Each of the bacteria in itself is very dangerous, and their bouquet, entering the blood, leaves the victim no chance. After a bite from a Komodo dragon, in 99 cases out of 100, death.

Giant foot-and-mouth diseases, smelling rot and blood, come running to the feast. They feed mainly on carrion. They very rarely tear apart prey that is still alive. These reptiles are capable of tearing off and swallowing large pieces of meat, in which they are helped by extremely sharp teeth, a powerful jaw and a stretchable stomach-bag.

Interestingly, the pus and infections of a dead animal do not harm monitor lizards, which have incredible immunity. On the contrary, they only enrich the harmful microflora of their oral cavity.

Indonesian predators can also attack people. If you do not receive medical help within a couple of hours after the bite, then death from sepsis is inevitable. There have been several documented cases of monitor lizards attacking children. It is better for women not to visit the Indonesian islands during their period, as the smell of blood excites the hunting instinct of monitor lizards, which makes them very dangerous.

Reproduction

Sexual maturity in these reptiles occurs very late - only at 9-10 years of age. In July-August, all sexually mature individuals gather together. Since there are 4 times more males in the population than females, mating is preceded by mating fights. The strongest one wins and gets the female.

After mating, she digs a deep hole where she lays 20-25 eggs. The lizard protects the clutch for 8 months. But when the monitor lizards hatch, she immediately leaves them. Cubs survive thanks to a strong natural instinct of self-preservation. They spend most of their time in trees, escaping from enemies, feeding on small animals and bird eggs.

Monitor lizards have such a feature as the ability to lay eggs without prior fertilization. In this case, 100% of the lizards hatch are male.

Dragons also need protection

Unique Creatures distributed over a very narrow range. They are found only on a few Indonesian islands - Komodo, Gili Motang, Flores, Rinca. A total of 5,000 of these giant lizards have been discovered. According to scientists, their numbers are slowly but steadily declining due to the development of the islands by people and poaching. To protect this unique look was created in 1980 National Park"Komodo", where excursions are organized.

The animals are listed in the Red Book; hunting them is prohibited. The law says that even if a reptile attacks a person - an adult or a child, it cannot be killed! The “dragon” must be scared away, then professional huntsmen must be called to find this monster and transport it to the other end of the island.

To control the population of Komodo dragons, a special campaign was carried out, during which all found reptiles had a chip implanted in their hind paw. That's how they were counted. Experts emphasize that the largest lizard in the world will survive only in natural environment, for which it is necessary to limit the settlement of people on the islands.

Man has studied seemingly all living beings on the planet. But to this day, scientists find and describe new previously unstudied species of animals and plants. For example, the class Reptiles added a hundred new species in 2010. Among them there are both large lizards, for example, Varanus bitatawa, reaching 2 meters in length, and rather inconspicuous ones - Cyrtopodion golubevi with a body length of about 43−59 mm and a tail of 53−79 mm.

Reptiles are divided into 4 orders

Classification of reptiles

According to traditional scientific classification the class Reptiles (Reptiles) includes four modern units:

• Testudines - Turtles;
• Crocodilia - Crocodiles;
• Rhynchocephalia - Beaked heads;
• Squamata - Scaly.

The last order (Scaly) is divided into suborders. Among them:

• Serpentes - Snakes;
• Amphisbaenia - Amphisbaenia (two-walkers);
• Lacertilia - Lizards;
• Chamaeleonia - Chameleons.

More than 9 thousand species of animals belonging to the class of Reptiles are known in the world. More than 6 thousand of them are species classified in the suborder Lizards, which include:

• infraorder monitor lizards (Varanoidea);
• infraorder spindle-shaped (Anguimorpha);
• infraorder gecko-like (Gekkota);
• infraorder iguana (Iguania);
• infraorder skinks (Scincomorpha).

Features and appearance

Some species of lizards have significant differences in appearance, habitat and habits, while others are difficult to distinguish from each other or even from representatives of other classes. Spindle lizards can be classified as snakes at first glance, and representatives of the vermiform family are similar in appearance to earthworms. However, most still have limbs, and their appearance leaves no doubt about their belonging to the suborder.

Interesting distinctive feature Many species of lizards discard part of their tail.

This phenomenon is called autotomy - the ability to independently discard any organ or limb. This usually happens in extreme unfavorable conditions, in case of threat to life or other danger.

By contracting special muscles in certain areas, the tail vertebrae are broken and damaged blood vessels are compressed, thereby preventing bleeding. After a certain time, the tissues regenerate, and the discarded limb is restored. Most often, the regrown tail becomes slightly shorter than the discarded one.

Big and small

The smallest lizards in the world are the Haraguana sphero (Sphaerodactylus ariasae) and the Virginia round-toed gecko (Sphaerodactylus parthenopion), living in the Virgin Islands and Dominican Republic. These animals weigh about 0.2 g, and their body length is 16-19 mm.

The Komodo dragon is considered the largest representative of the suborder in the world. This large lizard is also called the giant Indonesian monitor lizard, Komodo monitor lizard, Komodo dragon, and the natives of the Indonesian islands call it “ora” or “buaya darat”, which means “land crocodile”. Adult representatives of this species can reach three meters in length and weigh up to 90 kg.

These giant reptiles were first discovered in 1912 on the Indonesian island of Komodo. And to this day, their habitat occupies an impressive area there, although scientists have established that the ancestors of this species lived in Australia.

The Komodo dragon is an excellent swimmer, runner and even climber. Monitor lizards, while obtaining food or in search of a secluded place to rest and spend the night, can also climb trees. These huge lizards are diurnal, waking up at dawn and going out to hunt with the first rays of the sun. During the daytime they prefer to hide from the scorching sun in the shade.

Monitor lizards eat a variety of foods. Depending on its age, the Komodo dragon can hunt insects, fish, rodents, turtles, crabs and many other living creatures. Having reached a weight of 20 kilograms, adult individuals are able to hunt larger animals (wild boars, deer), and subsequently buffaloes, cattle, and horses. They can feed on carrion.

What helps the Komodo dragon hunt is not only its huge, sharp teeth and powerful jaws, with which they easily tear apart prey. It was recently discovered that the bite of Komodo dragons is poisonous. Previously, the danger of bites from these lizards was associated with pathogenic microflora in the mouth that entered the victim’s wound. The spreading infection gradually kills the victim, and the monitor lizards patiently pursue the animal and wait until the large prey is so exhausted by the disease that it cannot resist.

Scientists have now established that monitor lizards have a poison that gradually kills the victim. And these large reptiles are rightfully considered not only the largest lizards on Earth, but also the largest poisonous creatures.

Domestic lizards

Lizards are quite popular pets. The variety of species allows you to choose them for home care for every taste. Based on the desires and capabilities of the owner, they can be huge or small, herbivores or eat live food, capable of contact with humans or live in their own closed terrarium.

To keep a reptile you need certain knowledge

Names of the largest lizards for home keeping:

• Striped monitor lizard. One of largest representatives, in nature can reach a body length of 250-300 cm and weigh more than 20 kg.
• The Nile monitor lizard can weigh from 5 to 10 kilograms and have a body length of 150-170 cm. Females are smaller in size and, on average, weigh about 3 kg with a length of 135 cm.
• Common iguana. Quite a common type for home maintenance. They can grow up to 150 cm.
• Tegus are lizards measuring 1−1.4 m.
• Cape steppe monitor lizard. Adults of this species can be from 60 cm to 1.5 meters in length. Females are slightly smaller than males.

But representatives that are not so dangerous and do not grow to gigantic sizes are more popular for home keeping. For example:

• has dimensions from 50 to 60 cm;
• spotted leopard gecko with a body length of 25 to 30 cm;
• felsuma grows up to 30 cm;
• toki - a lizard with dimensions up to 35 cm;
• The blue-tongued skink can reach 60 cm in length, but in most cases the body length does not exceed 45 cm.

Pets must be provided with suitable food, and it is also necessary to create light and thermal conditions in the terrarium. The terrarium itself must be designed according to the characteristics of each species.

The decision to choose one of the representatives of the reptile class as a pet should be balanced. It is also worth assessing financial possibilities, since keeping a lizard, especially a large one, can be quite expensive. Caring for such a pet requires time to provide the animal with comfortable conditions existence. Representatives of many species are quite friendly and proper care can be domesticated to some extent by humans.

In this video you will learn more about lizards:

Komodo dragon- the largest lizard in the world, its average size is 2.5 m, and its weight is 90 kg. But there are record holders whose length reaches 3 m and weight reaches 150 kg. The huge lizard lives on the Indonesian islands; it was first discovered only in 1912.

The Komodo dragon belongs to the class of reptiles, the subclass of oviparous, and the order of squamates.

To date the most big lizard recognized from this family male 3.13 meters long, weighing 166 kg. It is curious, but it is the males that reach enormous sizes; females, as a rule, do not grow above 1.8 m.

The sight of a huge lizard is intimidating - a massive body covered with stone-colored skin reminiscent of chain mail, large curved teeth, a forked tongue.

Unusual hunt

Komodo lizards are carnivores, so they eat only meat. The diet of young individuals consists mainly of insects, birds, and snakes. Adult monitor lizards hunt for more nutritious prey; forest dwellers become their prey - wild boars, buffalo, deer, more small mammals. There is practically nothing left of the victims - the giant does not disdain hooves, skin and other parts of carcasses that other predators do not eat.

The unusual nature of the hunt lies in the fact that these lizards are able to recognize not only the approach of the prey at a distance of several kilometers, but also sense its taste. Involved in this process forked tongue and organs of the oral cavity that can taste the air.

Large Komodo dragons are not slow, they can run at speeds of 18 km per hour and have very flexible jaw and throat muscles. This structure allows you to quickly swallow large pieces of meat. The stomach is easily and strongly stretched, even accommodates whole carcasses large animals such as pigs.

However, predatory giants rarely swallow entire carcasses. More often they prefer to immobilize the victim, then tear it into pieces and eat it. In alarming situations, the monitor lizard instantly empties its stomach to lighten its weight and escape from the enemy.

Toxicity and infectiousness

Komodo dragon – poisonous creature, the poison is secreted from glands located in lower jaw. The poisonous secretion disrupts blood clotting, reduces blood pressure and body temperature, and causes paralysis of the victim and severe pain.

Even if the unfortunate animal receives a small dose of poison and escapes from the predator’s mouth, it is not destined to escape and survive. Lizard saliva contains more than 50 thousand species of bacteria. The bite leads to blood poisoning and inevitable death in the coming days. The predator constantly monitors the surrounding air and hurries to where the disease finishes off the victim.

The poisonous dragon rarely attacks people, but there have been cases when even children became victims. However, Komodo dragons are protected and it is forbidden to destroy them.

Facts about reproduction

Komodo dragons are capable of asexual reproduction, but only male individuals can appear in this way. Females are born only after natural fertilization.

To protect their offspring from other predators, mothers make false nests and sit there, distracting hunters. At this time, the real eggs are in a different place.

Young lizards are cunning- sensing danger, they repeatedly fall into own feces to publish bad smell. The lizards spend the first four years of their lives in trees, hiding from predators, including the monitor lizards of their family and their own parents, who no longer recognize their offspring.

Growing up to one and a half meters, young dragonets descend and begin to hunt themselves. Adulthood lasts about nine years, and the lifespan of a dragon averages thirty years. But they do not have the same vitality as .

It turns out that in our time you can meet a dragon. This is what the inhabitants of Komodo Island (in Indonesia) call the Komodo dragon, which is the largest lizard in the world. This is not only a huge lizard, but also a cruel predator that brings fear to the islanders - the dragon can attack not only domestic animals, but also people, and children who are sitting or lying on the ground are especially vulnerable.

Excursion into history

The largest lizard in the world was first discovered by scientists at the beginning of the 20th century - descriptions of the dragon date back to 1912. It was during this time that the Komodo dragon was found on Komodo Island. Actually, the monitor lizard received the name Komodo based on its habitat. Scientists put forward a version that many thousands of years ago, Komodo dragons lived in Australia, and then moved to the islands located nearby. And today the dragon can be found not only on the island of Komodo, but also on the following islands: Flores, Ridge, Padar, Rinca. The number of lizards during the discovery period was small, and today it is only decreasing. Therefore, due to the threat of extinction, Komodo dragons are currently heavily protected and are listed in the Red Book.

Description of the Komodo dragon

Adult monitor lizards can grow more than 3 meters in length, and their weight can be up to 160 kg. However, such large individuals are not found so often - as a rule, the length of these largest lizards in the world is 2 meters. Thanks to huge size Komodo dragons have practically no enemies, but this applies to adult lizards, and small monitor lizards become a treat birds of prey, snakes and even their relatives. Like any lizard, Komodo dragons have long tail. Their skin color is dark with small spots, but young animals are lighter in color. These giant lizards have powerful jaws and very sharp teeth, because they are predators.

The huge head alone and the incredibly large toothed mouth, from which a forked long tongue protrudes, can plunge any person into indescribable horror. Seeing this animal, you can imagine yourself in a completely different era, when there were a huge number of such creatures. It is amazing that in our time the Komodo dragon has retained its appearance practically unchanged.

Distinctive features of the Komodo dragon

The largest lizard in the world, despite its impressive size, can run very fast, albeit over short distances. In addition, she can swim and can even swim to the island next door. The Komodo dragon can perfectly get food from trees, while standing on its hind legs. Young individuals are excellent at climbing trees and spending time on them. a large number of time. This is how young monitor lizards escape from predators that might attack them.

Komodo dragons have excellent hearing, sharp vision, but their main sense organ is smell. Dragons have two poisonous glands and deadly saliva, thanks to which they kill their victims and obtain food for themselves.

Lifestyle

At night, Komodo dragons hide in burrows that they make themselves. They go hunting early morning. During the day, they also hide from the rays of the scorching sun. They are cold-blooded creatures, so they do not tolerate sudden temperature fluctuations. As a rule, Komodo giant lizards are loners. They live in groups only during the breeding season.

How do they hunt and what do they eat?

Komodo dragons feed on both small and large animals (including domestic ones), mainly eating carrion. Also, dragons, being able to climb trees well, steal birds' eggs. In a hungry year, adults even eat their younger relatives. Thanks to their acute sense of smell, these lizards are able to smell blood at a distance of up to 5 km.

As a rule, monitor lizards hunt big catch from ambush. When attacking her, they bite the animal and follow her, awaiting her death. Moreover, the monitor lizard is helped more not by the poisonous glands, as previously thought, but by saliva, which contains a large number of pathogenic bacteria. It is these bacteria that, when entering the victim’s blood, lead to its inevitable death. As a result, the monitor lizard's victim loses consciousness and then dies.

Instead of injecting poison, the monitor lizard rubs it into the victim’s wound with one blow. This method of hunting has helped monitor lizards exist for many millennia. With the help of a forked tongue, the Komodo dragon is able to smell carrion from afar and is more likely to rush to a feast in which its other relatives also take part. Moreover, eating meat poisoned by its own saliva does not harm them at all, since monitor lizards have excellent immunity. And the substances released during the decomposition of the monitor lizard’s killed prey only enrich the giant lizard’s oral cavity with new bacteria of a deadly nature.

Danger to humans

There have been cases when the Komodo dragon attacked a person. The bite of this animal is very dangerous for humans, as it begins inflammatory process due to the influence of pathogenic bacteria. Monitor lizards can especially attack small children. However, it is believed that this is only when they confuse their usual food. However, after being bitten by this huge lizard, it is important to seek medical attention immediately as the fatality rate is 99 percent.

Not only living people suffer from Komodo dragons, but also the dead - the dragons dig up buried corpses and feed on them. Therefore, today the dead are buried under cast cement slabs.

Offspring

Male monitor lizards fight for their mate every year. The monitor lizard who wins gets a female, who will then lay 20 eggs. For eight months, she will ensure that no one eats the eggs, but the hatched young monitor lizards will be deprived of maternal care. They must take care of their own safety, so they often hide in trees or in shelters. Moreover, they often hide from representatives of their own species, who do not disdain young animals as their food.