Dragons do exist!

thatsweird ^

[JoeProBono]

The Komodo dragon is the world's largest flesh-eating lizard and living reptile. This amazing creature is only found in the wild on four small Indonesian islands, where they are vulnerable to disease, volcanic activity, and competition with feral dogs and man. It lives on the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Padar, and Flores. The Komodo is an endangered species and there are only about 5,000 of them in existence around the world, including a small number kept and bred in zoos. This giant lizard can grow to 3 meters (10 feet) long, and has an average weight of 70 kg (155 pounds). Komodo dragons are dangerous predators with sharp serrated teeth more like a shark's than a reptile's. Swift runners, they can swim and climb trees, and they can use their tail as a weapon and swing it like a club. They find most of their food by smell. Like shakes they 'taste' the air with their tongues, which are deeply forked and collect scent molecules from the air. They have an acute sense of smell and can detect the scent of decaying remains from up to 5km (3 miles).

[JoeProBono]

While Komodos like to eat dead things, they also prey on wild pigs, water buffalo and deer. They have a huge capacity for food, often eating up to half of their body weight in one meal. They are also cannibalistic, sometimes eating their own kind. They eat almost all of a carcass, consuming flesh, skin and even bones. A large Komodo can swallow a whole wild pig; their jaws expand like a snake's.

Their bite is often lethal because the bacteria in their mouths is so poisonous that wounds often do not heal, and their victim, if it manages to escape, dies in a day or two.

Although often regarded as pests, Komodos are not a serious danger to humans. In order to protect the dragon, the Indonesian government has made the islands of Padar and Rinca into nature reserves for both the lizard and its prey. Commercial trade in specimens or skins is illegal under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

[JoeProBono]

[cripplecreek]

Their bite is often lethal because the bacteria in their mouths is so poisonous that wounds often do not heal, and their victim, if it manages to escape, dies in a day or two.

I recently read that the scientific view on that is changing. While the bacteria is nasty it also appears to be highly specialized to kill quickly. Seems that science is starting to consider the possibility that the dragons are venomous.

[JoeProBono]

Cool!

[JimSEA]

It would be quite an experience to see one.

I can recall walking along a path in the very civilized Sentosa Island in Singapore when a cousin, monitor lizard strolled across in front of us. Big sucker.

I had seen the even smaller monitors prevalent in Northern Thailand but they are nothing like this guy was.

I would imagine the contrast with the Komodos would be a shocking (if it decided to eat you particularly).

[potlatch]

Wasn’t it Sharon Stone who wanted to give her husband [at the time] a ‘special’ gift and set up a private session for him with a komodo and I believe he got bit?

“Twas quite a gift the giftee gee us”........lol

[Ronin]

I read a story some years ago about a young Japanese couple who wanted to have a romantic night on the beach... and were never seen again.

Dragon food....

[JoeProBono]

Monday, 11 June, 2001, 11:55 GMT 12:55 UK

Lizard bites Sharon Stone's husband

San Francisco Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein - the husband of actress Sharon Stone - has had foot surgery following an attack by a Komodo dragon at a US zoo. Bronstein was bitten on the foot in the Indonesian lizard's cage during the couple's private tour of Los Angeles zoo.

He had surgery on Saturday to reattach severed tendons and rebuild a big toe and was in a stable condition, a spokesman for the paper said.

The lizard got hold of Bronstein's foot after a zookeeper asked him to remove his white tennis shoes to keep the five-foot-long reptile from mistaking them for the white rats it is fed.

Stone, who witnessed the attack from outside the cage, said the reptile attacked Bronstein's shoeless foot, crushing his big toe while thrashing its body around.

The editor managed to pry open the reptile's mouth and escape through a small feeding door in the cage while the zookeeper distracted it, Stone said.

[Hot Tabasco]

and were never seen again.

They were shanghied...

[JoeProBono]

"Dragon food...."

Nah

[JoeProBono]

"if it decided to eat you "

Nah

[Gay State Conservative]

I just visited the Indonesian island of Batam (a 45 minute ferry ride from Singapore) and the first thing I saw at the dock was a big Indonesian Tourism Authority sign saying something like...Welcome to Indonesia,Home Of The Komodo Dragon...and it had a huge picture of one.

I almost turned around right there because I've seen stuff on various cable channels and PBS about them.The photo just about caused me to have a heart attack.

[JoeProBono]

So you decided not to take a ride, huh?

[Larry Lucido]

The Komodo dragon is the world's largest flesh-eating lizard and living reptile.

This giant lizard can grow to 3 meters (10 feet) long, and has an average weight of 70 kg (155 pounds).

Am I missing something? Aren't crocodiles reptiles, and heavier than 155 pounds?

[JoeProBono]

Nice dragon

[Safetgiver]

Kill ‘em. Kill ‘em all. Make nice boots, too!

[Joe 6-pack]

They are also one of few land dwelling vertebrates capable of parthenogenesis.

[JoeProBono]

Tastes like chicken

[Gay State Conservative]

So you decided not to take a ride, huh?

Nope..no way.If I ever decide to end it all I'll do it in a comparatively benign way...like running headlong into a wood chipper.

[Safetgiver]

I believe crocs and alligators are amphibians. Could be wrong.