Where do the largest monitor lizards live? Dragons of Komodo Island - how hunting strategy helps you win a fight to the death

Komodo Island is located in the very center of the Indonesian archipelago. This is the habitat of the unique and largest lizards in the world - Komodo dragons.

We are in Indonesia. Komodo Island is relatively small, its area is about 390 sq. km. Almost its entire territory is occupied by National Park Komodo, created in 1980 to protect Komodo dragons. Coastline as if cut by rocky capes, clearly of volcanic origin:

The nature here is unique. Almost the entire territory is covered by arid savannah.

You can get here from the island of Bali using the following tourist equipment:

In general, Komodo is an island often visited cruise ships from all over the world:

You have to come here for this reason unique miracle nature - Komodo dragon! This terrifying, deadly monitor lizard lives on the island. This is his home.

So, Komodo dragons are giant lizards, reaching a length of 3 meters and weighing up to 150 kg! Natural duration The lifespan of monitor lizards in nature is probably about 50 years.

Handsome. Komodo dragons feed on a wide variety of animals. Their victims are fish, sea ​​turtles, wild boars, buffalos, deer and reptiles. Also, repeated cases of attacks on people have been recorded.

At first glance, these lizards seem very clumsy and unhurried. However, when running short distances The monitor lizard is capable of reaching speeds of up to 20 km/h. They hunt relatively large prey from ambush, sometimes knocking the victim down with blows of his powerful tail, often breaking its legs in the process.

Monitor lizards are at the top food chain islands. And this is their prey - a deer:

Reptiles do not have poisonous teeth, but their bite is most often fatal. Having tracked a deer, wild boar or other large prey in the bushes, the monitor lizard attacks and tries to inflict damage on the animal. laceration, into which many bacteria are introduced from the oral cavity. As a result of such an attack, the victim experiences blood poisoning, the animal gradually weakens and dies after some time. The dragons of Komodo Island can only follow the victim and wait for her to die.

Tourists and monitor lizards are not separated by a fence with barbed wire, or any ditch, or anything that would inspire confidence in safety. Groups of tourists are usually accompanied by rangers armed with long poles with forked ends to defend against possible dragon attacks.

As shelters, monitor lizards use holes 1-5 meters long, which they dig with their powerful paws and claws.

Komodo dragons are less dangerous to people than crocodiles or sharks. However, the number of deaths due to late medical care after bites (and, as a result, blood poisoning) reaches 99%!

To reach food at a height, the monitor lizard can stand on its hind legs, using its tail as a support. Komodo dragons are good climbers and spend a lot of time in trees.

About 1,700 monitor lizards live on Komodo Island. On the neighboring island of Rinca there are about 1,200 individuals. According to scientists, Australia should be considered the homeland of Komodo dragons.

Cannibalism is common among Komodo dragons: adult lizards often eat smaller individuals. Therefore, as soon as the cubs are born, they immediately instinctively climb a tree, looking for shelter there.

In December 1910, the Dutch administration on the island of Java from the administrator of the island of Flores (by civil cases) Stein van Hensbrouck received information that on the outlying islands of the Lesser Sunda archipelago there are no 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".

Komodo dragons are one of the species potentially dangerous to humans, although they are less dangerous than crocodiles or sharks and do not pose a direct danger to adults.

According to local residents, some monsters reach seven meters in length, and three- and four-meter buaya darats are common. The curator of the Butsnzorg Zoological Museum at the Botanical Park of West Java Province, 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.

Giant monitor lizards are cannibals, and adults, on occasion, will not miss the opportunity to feast on their smaller relatives.

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 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 animals to the USA, three of which are on display American Museum Natural History in New York.

RESERVED ISLANDS
Indonesian 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.

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.

One bite is enough

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.

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 and sharp eyesight, but their most important sense organ is smell. These reptiles are able to smell carrion or blood at a distance of even 11 kilometers.

The majority of the monitor lizard population lives in the western and northern parts of the Flores Islands - about 2,000 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.

In the photo m A young Komodo dragon near the carcass of an Asian water buffalo. The power of the jaws of monitor lizards is fantastic. Without effort, they open the victim's chest, cutting through the ribs like a huge can opener.

GAD BROTHERHOOD
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, making it easier for them to dismember prey in the tree where they spend most of their lives.

Venomtooths are 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.

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.

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 the “biological weapon” of the Komodo dragon has been launched.

Reptiles have good hearing and sharp eyesight, but their most important sense organ is smell.

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.

The Komodo dragon has two venom glands in its lower jaw that produce toxic proteins. These proteins, when introduced into the victim's body, prevent blood clotting, lower blood pressure, promote 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.

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 helped giant monitor lizards exist for thousands of years.

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.

Who's next?

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.

The only known representative of large reptiles is Megalania prisca sizes from 5 to 7 m and weight 650-700 kg

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.

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!

Indonesian Komodo island interesting not only for its nature, but also for its animals: among the tropical jungles of this island live real “ dragons»…

Such " 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 a 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, “ 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 larger prey: goats, horses, cows, and sometimes 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. To quickly pass 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 " 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. In 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 largest 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 the "dragon" was helped by the 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, giant turtles and elephants lived on the island, the height of which 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”.

Komodo dragons are the most large lizards in the world. These are unique animals: they are excellent swimmers, they can climb trees, they have an excellent sense of smell and, to top off the list, they are very poisonous. The bite of a monitor lizard can be fatal to humans.

The monitor lizard has many names - Komodo dragon, Komodo dragon, and the locals call it ora or buaya darat(“land crocodile”).

These giants live only on a few islands located in the group of the Lesser Sunda Islands - about. Komodo, o. Rinka, o. Gili Motang and Fr. Flores.

Adult males reach 2.5 - 3 meters and weigh 70 kilograms. Although there is evidence that the largest specimen reached a length of 3.13 meters and weighed 166 kilograms. Females are smaller and reach a length of only 1.5 - 2 meters. The length of the monitor lizard's tail is approximately half the length of the body. The color is dark brown; young individuals have bright yellowish spots on their backs. The mouth is equipped with teeth with cutting edges, which are suitable for tearing meat into pieces.

Monitor lizards are diurnal animals. During the hottest time of the day they hide in the shade, and in the afternoon they go out hunting. At night they sleep soundly in their shelters. Young monitor lizards are excellent climbers and live in hollows for their own safety.

Komodo dragons - excellent swimmers. They can safely swim across small rivers, bays, or cover the distance to neighboring nearby islands. True, there is one “but” here. They cannot survive in water for more than 15 minutes. And if they don’t manage to get to land, they drown. Perhaps it was this factor that influenced the natural boundaries of the habitat of these animals.

Monitor lizards run fast; over short distances its speed can reach 20 km/h. When necessary, they can stand on their hind legs, using their powerful tail as support.

They don't have natural enemies. They themselves will destroy anyone. But they happily feed on young monitor lizards birds of prey And large snakes.

Komodo dragons are omnivores. They eat everything from large insects to horses, buffalos and other monitor lizards. Yes, yes, intraspecific cannibalism is common among these lizards. This is especially true during famine years. Adults often eat smaller relatives.

They wait in ambush for their prey. Sometimes they knock her down with a blow from her huge tail, breaking her legs. Large specimens prefer carrion, which they provide for themselves. The thing is that they cause a laceration to the animal, which becomes infected. Inflammation of the wound and blood poisoning occurs. After some time the animal dies. The monitor lizard, thanks to its forked tongue, which is an organ of smell, finds the corpse of a victim even at a distance of several kilometers. Other monitor lizards also come running to the smell of carrion. A fight begins, the purpose of which is to establish dominance among the males.

The monitor lizard can swallow small prey whole, but tear large prey into pieces. Females and young animals mainly feed on what is left from dinner or on birds and small animals.

The breeding season for monitor lizards begins in winter, during the dry season. The number of males is 2 times greater than the number of females. Therefore, ritual battles for females take place at this time.

After mating, after 6-7 months, the female goes in search of places to lay eggs. Most often they become nests of weed chickens, large compost heaps or high piles of fallen leaves. She digs a deep hole there and lays 20 eggs, each weighing 200 grams. The female guards her nest for 8-8.5 months until the small monitor lizards hatch. Immediately after their appearance, their self-preservation instinct kicks in and before they are eaten, they climb the neighboring trees. They live there for the first 2 years.

Many have heard that a lizard bite can be fatal. It turns out that their saliva contains 57 different strains of bacteria that cause inflammation of the wound and blood poisoning. It is believed that these bacteria came from eating carrion. This is true, but here lies another secret.

More recently, in 2009, scientists at the University of Melbourne proved that monitor lizards have poisonous glands that are located on the lower jaw. They secrete a venom containing various toxic proteins that cause cessation of blood clotting, decreased blood pressure, muscle paralysis and loss of consciousness. The ducts of these glands are located at the base of the teeth, and the poison is mixed with saliva, which contains many bacteria.

Monitor lizards are dangerous to humans, to a greater extent it concerns him poisonous bites. If you don't apply for it in time medical care, That fatal outcome can't be avoided. They pose a particular danger to children. During famine years, there are recorded cases of children dying from these monsters. There are known cases of monitor lizards digging up corpses from graves.

It is forbidden to kill these animals. They are listed in the IUCN Red List. A national park was organized especially for them on Komodo Island.