Startling Facts: Komodo Dragon, At Least 100 Years Old.

The Komodo dragon (giant lizard) is the largest living lizard species today. It has been minimum of 100 years since these were discovered. They originate in the four Indonesian islands of Komodo, Flores Rinca, and Gili Montana.

Once, a plane accidentally landed on an island and was able to see these lizards. Thus, these lizards found on Komodo Island got the name Komodo Dragon. Before that, people had only heard of giant lizards.

These are absolutely carnivores or carnivores. They will eat all the creatures they can catch. Their diet consists mainly of pigs, snakes, deer, fish, and buffalo. Large lizards sometimes eat small lizards as well. These lizards eat all parts of their prey, up to their bones.

The tongue of these lizards resembles the tongue of a snake. The tip of the tongue is split in two. Their tongues have a very good sense of smell. Lizards use their tongues to detect prey. In this way, they can detect prey up to 4 km away.

The way they kill victims bigger than themselves is very different. They lurk near the prey and return with a single bite on the legs or other parts. The saliva of these lizards contains a large number of bacteria. The bitten animal bleeds to death within 24 hours. With that, the Komodo dragon comes and eats his big prey comfortably.

They hunt during the day. They have very poor eyesight at night. These lizards also have poor hearing. Komodo dragons are cold-blooded creatures. These spend most of their time focusing on controlling body temperature with the sun. During the rainy season, they stay in their dens and maintain their body temperature.

They make holes in the ground and lay their eggs in them. As soon as they are born, their young climb into the trees and start living there. These baby dragons stay in the tree so that the big dragons do not eat them. Large dragons lose the ability to climb trees as they grow.