Parental care in Komodo dragons is restricted to the females, who guard clutches of around 20 eggs for seven months. After hatching, young Komodo dragons often move into trees in order to avoid predation by adults. Young dragons take five years to reach maturity, after which they can live for fifty years. In captivity Komodo dragons have reproduced by parthenogenesis.
In spite of their large size, Komodo dragons were only discovered by Western scientists in 1910. Their large size and fearsome reputation makes them popular zoo exhibits. In the wild their range has contracted due to human activities and they are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. They are protected under Indonesian law and a national park, Komodo National Park, was founded in order to protect them.
In the wild, large adults usually weigh around 70 kilograms (154 pounds).Captive specimens often weigh more. The largest verified wild specimen was 3.13 metres (10 feet 3 inches) long and weighed 166 kilograms (365 pounds), including undigested food.Komodo dragons have a tail that is as long as the body, as well as about 60 frequently-replaced serrated teeth that may be 2.5 centimetres (1 inch) in length.Their saliva will frequently be blood-tinged, because their teeth are almost completely covered by gingival tissue and this tissue is naturally lacerated during feeding.This creates an ideal culture for the virulent bacteria that live in their mouths.It also has a long, yellow, deeply-forked tongue.Males are larger than females, with skin color from dark grey to brick red, while females are more olive green, and have patches of yellow at the throat.[citation needed] The young are much more colorful by comparison, with yellow, green and white banding on a dark background.
Komodo dragons’ sense of hearing is not particularly acute, despite their visible earholes, and their visual discrimination (especially of stationary objects) is poor, although they can see in color. They use their tongue to detect taste and smell stimuli, as with many other reptiles, with the vomeronasal sense using a Jacobson’s organ, a sense that aids navigation in the dark. With the help of a favorable wind, they may be able to detect carrion up to 9.5 kilometres (6 miles) away. Komodo dragons’ nostrils are not of great use for smelling, as they do not have a diaphragm. They have no taste buds on their tongues, only a few in the back of the throat.
Their scales, some reinforced with bone, have sensory plaques connected to nerves that facilitate their sense of touch. The scales around the ears, lips, chin, and feet bottoms may have three or more sensory plaques.
Formerly, Komodo dragons were thought to be deaf when a study reported no agitation in wild Komodo dragons during whispers, raised voices, and shouts. This was disputed when London Zoological Garden employee Joan Proctor trained a captive monitor to come out to feed at the sound of her voice, even when she could not be seen.
Komodo dragons are found exclusively in Indonesia, on the island of Rinca and on several islands of the Lesser Sunda archipelago. They prefer hot and dry places, and typically live in dry open grassland, savanna and tropical forest at low elevations. As poikilotherms, they are most active in the day, although they do exhibit some nocturnal activity. Komodo dragons are largely solitary, coming together only to breed and eat. They are capable of running rapidly in brief sprints (up to 20 kilometres per hour [12.4 miles per hour]), are excellent swimmers (may dive up to 4.5 metres [15 feet]), and climb trees proficiently through use of their strong claws. To catch prey that is out of reach, they may stand on their hind legs and use their tail as a support.[ As Komodo dragons mature, their claws are used primarily as weapons, as their great mass makes climbing impractical.
For shelter, dragons dig holes that can measure from 1-3 metres (3-10 feet) wide with their powerful forelimbs and claws. Because of their large size and habit of sleeping in these holes, Komodo dragons are able to conserve body heat throughout the night and minimize their basking period the morning after.
Although attacks are very rare, Komodo dragons have been known to kill humans. On June 4 2007, a Komodo dragon attacked an eight year old boy on Komodo Island. He later died of massive bleeding from his wounds. It was the first recorded deadly attack in 33 years.
