When Good Lizards Go Bad: Komodo Dragons Take Violent Turn

[WriteDown]

Source: WSJ

KAMPUNG KOMODO, Indonesia -- At least once a week, an unwelcome intruder crawls under a clapboard wall and, forked tongue darting, lumbers its way into Syarif Maulana's classroom.

"Then, everyone screams, there is no more school, and we all run away very fast," says the 10-year-old boy. "We are very afraid."

The intruder, a Komodo dragon, is the world's largest lizard, an ancient, fierce carnivore found only on a handful of remote islands in eastern Indonesia. Reaching 10 feet in length, the dragons feed on buffaloes, deer and an occasional human. Just a year ago, a boy about Syarif's age died in a dragon's jaws, his bones smashed against rocks to facilitate reptilian digestion.

That killing, and a spate of other close encounters, has fanned a panic in the dragons' main habitat, the Komodo National Park. Touted by Indonesia as its "Jurassic Park," this rocky, barren archipelago is home to some 2,500 dragons and nearly 4,000 people, clustered in four fishing villages of wooden stilt houses......

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121963304805268235.html?mod=hpp_us_pageone

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A very dangerous animal. Quite literally, modern day dinosaurs.

[MikeNearMcChord]

1. One of my favorite episodes of the Crocodile Hunter

was the one involving the Komodo Dragons. Learned a hell of a lot about them.

[Sequoia]

3. I was at the beach in Santa Monica a few years back and this

guy had one on a leash walking him around Bay Street. Everyone just stopped in their tracks and gawked. A freaking giant lizard...WTF???!!!

[WriteDown]

4. Almost impossible for it to be a Komodo...

Most likely a water monitor. Not even remotely as dangerous. Not as friendly as say a labrador retriever though. :).

[Sequoia]

8. Really? I seem to think the guy told me it was the other.

But maybe he didn't really know or wanted to scare people.

[WriteDown]

10. They are related...

but capture and sale of Komodo dragons is tightly regulated. It would be hard for any person to control one as well, especially considering their bites can be deadly. They contain several bacteria which have no known treatment.

[roguevalley]

2. they bite something and then trail it. their dirty mouth infections kill

things. awesome animal, these

[appal_jack]

5. your words & your sig pic are mighty incongruous, friend

Your pup's a cutie: glad your words are referring to the komodos.

:)
:hi:
-app

[roguevalley]

13. BWAHAHAHA! Dachshunds are really a descendent of T-Rexes

don't you know. :-D Or so they tell me. ;)

[Sal Minella]

9. Good Lord, I hope Anne Coulter doesn't pick up that habit......

[SoCalDem]

11. Dirty , dirty mouth

Gawd..I hate that commercial :)

[mr_hat]

6. Give them tv.

How hard is that?

[kskiska]

7. Sharon Stone's then-husband found out the hard way.

She arranged an up-close birthday zoo visit with one when the lizard mistook his white sneaker for a rat and he ended up with a badly damaged, very painful big toe.

[riverdeep]

12. The villagers blame the new policies set up on the deaths.

They say they used to feed the dragons and so the dragons were able to identify people and wouldn't hunt them. Also that they used to keep dogs for warning which they were made to get rid of. Also, the population has gotten larger and moved further into the dragons territory. They need to get this settled quickly otherwise those dragons are going to be killed soon. Only reason they haven't is because the local mythology sees them as sacred, but I don't know if that would hold out when humans start getting killed en masse.

You know that dream you have when you feel like something is trying to get you but you can't run, no matter how hard you try? That's what it must be like to be a prey of the Komodo. They bite the victim which then spreads toxins into the body that eventually paralyze it, slowing down the chase. And then...

[misanthrope]

14. Yeah, that's always a good idea...

...feeding large predators so they associate you with food.