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‘The Komodo dragon is an ancient species whose ancestors date back over 100 million years. The varanid genus originated between 25 and 40 million years ago in Asia. The Komodo descended from this species and evolved to its present form over four million years ago’.
Komodo National Park Facts

There are around 4,000 Komodo dragons in the wild and they are an endangered species. It is thought that there are only 350 breeding females left. The Komodo dragon is a reptile native to the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang in Indonesia.

There has been a spate of Komodo dragon attacks recently and today a fruit picker was savaged to death by 2 dragons when he fell out of a sugar tree.

Muhamad Anwar, 31, was attacked on the island of Komodo, where these reptiles run wild. He had lacerations to his legs, body, hands and neck after the 2 Komodo dragons had finished mauling him.

The 2 Komodos were laying in wait and attacked him shortly after he hit the ground. He was losing a lot of blood and was rushed to a clinic on the nearby island of Flores where he died soon after.

In February of this year on the island of Rinca, a Komodo dragon climbed into a hut where the victim was sitting at his desk.

Main, 46, managed to fight off the huge dragon and escaped through a window whilst fellow workers beat the dragon with sticks to make it flee.

He suffered cuts to his foot and hand in the struggle. Main said “I’m lucky I survived,” - “Nothing like this has ever happened to me in 25 years on the job. I’ve never been attacked.”

Komodo dragon attacks on humans are relatively rare, but they do seem to be on the increase in the past few years. ‘The Komodo dragon is a fierce predator with razor-sharp teeth that rip large chunks of flesh off with zeal.

‘Natives blamed the attack on environmentalists who don’t live on the island prohibiting goat sacrifices, causing the Komodo dragons to be denied their expected food source, causing them to wander into human territories in search of food’.

An eight-year-old boy was killed after a savage attack by a Komodo dragon in 2007, on the island of Komodo. He died from massive bleeding of his wounds; this being the first reported fatal attack on a human in 33 years.

‘The Komodo dragon eat mostly carrion, but they will also hunt and ambush prey including invertebrates, birds, and mammals. They will ambush live prey with a stealthy approach, a technique that has allowed the Komodo dragon to capture even the most lethal prey, such as the King Cobra.

When suitable prey arrives near a dragon’s ambush site, it will suddenly charge at the animal and go for the underside or the throat. It is able to locate its prey using its keen sense of smell, which can locate a dead or dying animal from a range of up to 9.5 kilometres (6 miles). Komodo dragons have also been observed knocking down large pigs and deer with their strong tail.

Komodo dragons eat by tearing large chunks of flesh and swallowing them whole while holding the carcass down with their forelegs. For smaller prey up to the size of a goat, their loosely articulated jaws, flexible skull, and expandable stomach allow it to swallow its prey whole. The vegetable contents of the stomach and intestines are typically avoided. Copious amounts of red saliva that the Komodo dragons produce help to lubricate the food, but swallowing is still a long process (15–20 minutes to swallow a goat).

Komodo dragons may attempt to speed up the process by ramming the carcass against a tree to force it down its throat, sometimes ramming so forcefully that the tree is knocked down. To prevent itself from suffocating while swallowing, it breathes using a small tube under the tongue that connects to the lungs. After eating up to 80 per cent of its body weight in one meal it drags itself to a sunny location to speed digestion, as the food could rot and poison the dragon if left undigested for too long.

Because of their slow metabolism, large dragons can survive on as little as 12 meals a year. After digestion, the Komodo dragon regurgitates a mass of horns, hair, and teeth known as the gastric pellet, which is covered in malodorous mucus. After regurgitating the gastric pellet, it rubs its face in the dirt or on bushes to get rid of the mucus, suggesting that it, like humans, does not relish the scent of its own excretions.

The largest animals generally eat first, while the smaller ones follow a hierarchy. The largest male asserts his dominance and the smaller males show their submission by use of body language and rumbling hisses. Dragons of equal size may resort to “wrestling.” Losers usually retreat though they have been known to be killed and eaten by victors’.