Well folks, I was wrong about the Komodo Dragon in Indonesia, as well was Bill Dalton in his Indonesia Handbook, and damn near everybody else who believed the big baby killed with bad bacteria in his mouth. Al Jazerra has the details.
The Komodo dragon, the world's largest lizard, has a snake-like venom in its bite which sends victims into shock and stops their blood from clotting, Australian research has shown.
It has been previously believed by scientists that bacteria in the carnivorous lizard's mouth helped kill its prey.
But researchers using magnetic resonance imagery uncovered venom glands containing a shock-inducing poison which is said to increase blood flow and decrease blood pressure.
Bryan Fry, the lead researcher from the University of Melbourne, said on Tuesday that computer imaging showed it used a "grip and rip" pulling manoeuvre to tear deep wounds, similar to a shark.
Fry surgically removed a venom gland from a terminally ill Komodo at Singapore Zoo for the study, and said it contained a toxic poison which would induce strong stomach cramps, hypothermia and a drop in blood pressure.
The SF Chronicle via AP has some background on recent attacks by Komodos on the local villagers. Plus funny comments, including a reminder that publisher Phil Bronstein was once bitten on his footsie when he got too close to one of the animals.
Komodo dragons have shark-like teeth and poisonous venom that can kill a person within hours of a bite. Yet villagers who have lived for generations alongside the world's largest lizard were not afraid — until the dragons started to attack.
The stories spread quickly across this smattering of tropical islands in southeastern Indonesia, the only place the endangered reptiles can still be found in the wild: Two people were killed since 2007 — a young boy and a fisherman — and others were badly wounded after being charged unprovoked.
Komodo dragon attacks are still rare, experts note. But fear is swirling through the fishing villages, along with questions on how best to live with the dragons in the future.
Main, a 46-year-old park ranger, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name, was doing paperwork when a dragon slithered up the stairs of his wooden hut in Komodo National Park and went for his ankles dangling beneath the desk. When the ranger tried to pry open the beast's powerful jaws, it locked its teeth into his hand.
"I thought I wouldn't survive... I've spent half my life working with Komodos and have never seen anything like it," said Main, pointing to his jagged gashes, sewn up with 55 stitches and still swollen three months later. "Luckily, my friends heard my screams and got me to hospital in time."
Komodos, which are popular at zoos in the United States to Europe, grow to be 10 feet (3 meters) long and 150 pounds (70 kilograms). All of the estimated 2,500 left in the wild can be found within the 700-square-mile (1,810-square-kilometer) Komodo National Park, mostly on its two largest islands, Komodo and Rinca. The lizards on neighboring Padar were wiped out in the 1980s when hunters killed their main prey, deer.
Though poaching is illegal, the sheer size of the park — and a shortage of rangers — makes it almost impossible to patrol, said Heru Rudiharto, a biologist and reptile expert. Villagers say the dragons are hungry and more aggressive toward humans because their food is being poached, though park officials are quick to disagree.
The giant lizards have always been dangerous, said Rudiharto. However tame they may appear, lounging beneath trees and gazing at the sea from white-sand beaches, they are fast, strong and deadly.
The animals are believed to have descended from a larger lizard on Indonesia's main island Java or Australia around 30,000 years ago. They can reach speeds of up to 18 miles (nearly 30 kilometers) per hour, their legs winding around their low, square shoulders like egg beaters.
More great stories from the SF Chron about Komodo Dragons here. Yes, the great Komodo Dragon attack on Phil Bronstein is included in this Chron search.
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