KOMODO DRAGONS

The Komodo dragon is actually a monitor lizard. Monitors range from tiny 20g things just 20 cm long to the garnddaddy of all of them, the Komodo dragon (Varanus Komodoensis). All monitors have some things in common: the head is tapered; the ear openings are visible; the neck is long and slender; the eyes have eyelids and round pupils; ad the jaws are powerful. But the dragons also have massive bodies, four powerful legs (each with five clawed toes) and long, thick tails (which function as rudders and can also be used for grasping or as a potent weapon). The body is covered in small, nonoverlapping scales; some may be spiny, other raised and bony.   The monitor's powerful legs allow them to sprint short distances, lifting their tail as they run. Many species stay in or near the water and can swin quite well, with an undulating movement of the trunk and tail. When threatened, they'll take refuge in their normal resting places- holes, trees (for the smaller monitors) or water. They are dangerous if driven into a corner and will then attack a much larger opponent. They threaten by opening the mouth, inflating the neck and hissing. The ribs may spread or the body expands slightly, making the monitor look larger. It often rises up on its hind legs just before attacking, and the tail can deliver well-aimed blows that will knock down a weaker adversary. Their best weapons are their sharp teeth and dagger-sharp claws which can inflict severe wounds.   All monitors feed on other animals: small ones on insects; larger ones on frogs and birds; and the ora on deer, wild pig and even water buffalo which inhabit the islands. The ora also eat their own dead. They can expand their mouth cavity considerably, enabling them to swallow large prey; the ora can push practically a whole goat into its throat. Being such a large reptile, the ora rarely moves until warmed by the sun. They seem to be stone deaf, but have a very keen sense of smell. Of all the monitors, the ora lays the largets eggs-up to 12 cm long and weighing around 200g. The female lays 20 or 30 eggs at a time and usually buries them in the wall of a dry river, where they hatch by themselves nine month later.   Monitors are not relics of the dinosaur age, they're remarkably versatile, hardy modern lizards, if not exactly sensitve and new age. Why they exist only on and around Komodo island is a mystery, as is why males outnumber females by a ratio of 3.4 to one. Populations of the ora vary, though there has been a decline on Komodo from 3336 in 1990 down to an estimated 1600 in 1996. About 800 are found on Rinca and fewer in the other locations.   The villagers never hunted the monitors, which wern't as good to eat as the numerous wild pigs on the island and for other reasons not too hard to imagine ! Today the ora is a protected species.