Komodo Island and its Dragons
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‘Komodo’Home of the dragons that bear their name, the Komodo Islands draw in many tourists. Discovered only in 1910, the world’s largest lizards have been the cause of fear and fascination, and visitors have flocked here ever since. Even if you venture off the island of Komodo, you will still find these dragons on some of the surrounding islands, as well as the world’s largest saltwater crocodiles. The islands of Komodo, Rinca, and Padar combine to form Komodo National Park, a World Heritage Site.
3 / 5
Review by editor ‘Komodo National Park’These volcanic islands are inhabited by a population of around 5,700 giant lizards, whose appearance and aggressive behaviour have led to them being called 'Komodo dragons'. They exist nowhere else in the world and are of great interest to scientists studying the theory of evolution. The rugged hillsides of dry savannah and pockets of thorny green vegetation contrast starkly with the brilliant white sandy beaches and the blue waters surging over coral.
Copyright © UNESCO/World Heritage Centre. All rights reserved.
4 / 5
Review by editor ‘Excerpt from 'Here be Dragons'’By Matt Warren for The Independent First published October 30, 2004
There is a dragon in the lavatory. It is a giant: nine feet long and broad shouldered, its dark, scaly head like a chunk of aggregate. It is drinking from the bowl and turns in a series of lumbering movements towards me, its forked tongue stabbing at the air. It is staring at me through tiny, reptile eyes; I am biting my lip to check I'm still awake. After travelling for three days, I have had my first experience of a Komodo dragon, in a Third World public convenience.
It is breakfast time on the tiny Indonesian island of Rinca, and the smell of frying eggs hangs in the soggy tropical air. The young dragons, skittish and barely a foot long, have already been attracted by the cooking smells, and dart between trees as they close in on the ranger station. The adults take longer to arrive, trundling out of the forest in a slow, primeval swagger. The dragons rely on their highly toxic saliva to kill their prey, and as they waddle towards the kitchen, strings of drool dribble from their dinosaur jaws.
"We don't feed them, but they come down here every morning anyway," says the ranger. "Even if we did share our food, the big ones weigh 70kg and can eat 80 per cent of their body weight in a single sitting - it's not like an omelette's going to satisfy them."
And so they drink from the lavatory instead. It is an incongruous, but sensational sight. Now all but confined to the tiny neighbouring islands of Komodo and Rinca, the 2,500 remaining dragons are like flotsam from another era, living fossils in the weirdest, most wonderful sense.
Two hours later and we are standing at the summit of a hill overlooking the ranger station and the pretty bay our boat is moored in. Tall, pea-green grasses ebb and flow in the breeze and water buffalo, the dragons' favourite prey, graze in small herds at the forest edge. Up here, the giant reptiles are never far away. They lie in wait for the buffalo and strike with breakneck speed when they stray within range. The dragons' septic bite causes lethal blood poisoning and if they don't bring their prey down in the attack, they patiently follow it until their saliva does.
"Over here!" shouts the ranger. "In the bushes, quick!" He is standing in the shadow of a small copse, with a gigantic dragon an arm's length in front of him and his heavy wooden stick braced defensively between them. It is lying motionless in the pool of shade, but its eyes are as cold as an arctic gale, and its body is tense. As I crane forward to take a photograph, I feel like I'm staring down the muzzle of a cocked gun - and I'm loving every minute of it. Full Article from The Independent Review by press. ‘Excerpt from 'Sailing in Search of Dragons'’By David Hochman First published October 3, 1999
We were snorkeling off the side of an old-fashioned wooden schooner in the glittering seas of Indonesia when the news arrived that those scaly, flesh-eating lizards known as Komodo dragons are every bit as agile in the water as they are on land.
''Be very careful how you splash around down there,'' Grant McArthur, one of the sailboat's owners, said with a smile as I came up for air. We were midway through a four-day cruise last April to Komodo Island aboard the Perintis, a handcrafted sailing ship. ''Those creatures have a tremendous appetite for American snorkelers.'' It's funny how even the most gleaming tropical seas can suddenly look about as inviting as week-old bath water.
Not that I really had to worry. The giant monitor lizards of Komodo can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh 250 pounds; but even in these parts they are an endangered species. They live on only a few islands in the world, including Komodo, and while some 5,000 of them still feed on wild pigs, small deer and sometimes even each other, attacks on tourists are all but mythological.
Still, these creatures deserved a healthy respect: They can run 15 miles per hour, swim like crocodiles and, when young, even climb trees. They have razor-sharp claws, powerful tails and curved, serrated teeth arranged so that a maximum amount of flesh can be bitten off and swallowed whole. As I scrambled back on board the Perintis and popped off my flippers and goggles, the movie playing inside my head could have been called ''Godzilla vs. Me.'' ... Full Article from The New York Times Review by press. Have you been here? Why not add your own review. |
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