by Pam Uher

Created on: January 24, 2008   Last Updated: November 11, 2009

Many people want to believe there once were dragons roaming the earth and that valiant dragon slayers sought them out, then killed them all. Perhaps they missed one creature known commonly as the Komodo Dragon. Is this reptile really a dragon might be the question we should answer?

The Komodo Dragon or Komodo Island Monitor, belongs to the monitor lizard family and is the largest living creature in this species.They are found on the Indonesian Island archiplago chain which includes Komodo, Flores, Gili Motang and Rinca Islands ((Komodo Dragons:Biology and Conservation). The modern world discovered them in 1910 and due to an article published by Peter Ouwens, director of the Zoological Museum on Java, in 1912, they became a nature phenonmena. From the news frenzy that followed the Ouwens article, American Douglas Burden formed and led an expedition to the Komodo Island in search of 'dragons' and perhaps other living 'monsters' of mythological stories. It is Burden, who is attributed with creating the name "Komodo Dragon" for the lizard (Komodo National Park). Local natives many times call them the "buaya darat" or "ora" which means land crocodile monster.

Recent research and scientific fossil evidence found in Queensland, Austraila indicates the Komodo lizards may have originated there millions of years ago and migrated to the island they now inhabit. The land ledges they traveled on as they spread their species around the world became covered by water as the environment changed over the eons and they became isolated on what we know today as the islands of Indonesia. (ABC News 2009)

KOMODO FACTS

Order: Squamata
Family: Varanidae
Genus/species: Varanus komodoensis

They are usually considered lazy animals that lounge around the jungles and beaches of their island paradises soaking in the warmth of the tropic sun. But when hungry, they can run exceptional fast (up to 12 mph in attack sprints), swim exceptionally well for a huge lizard and they climb trees faster than expected for a lizard their size.

Their teeth are razor sharp and have been compared to the bite of a shark, rather than other lizards. The bite of the Komodo is extremely lethal, it was thought that the bacteria it carries in its mouth was the main factor producing wounds that will not heal. Now after more research it is known these lizards also produce a fast acting venom with saliva that has over 50 types of bacteria found in it. Wounds on victims who manage to escape a Komodo attack, may never completely

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