 This amazing creature lives on Komodo Island and several other nearby islands, in Indonesia. There are only about 6000 of them, including a few in zoos. This giant lizard can grow to be 3 metres long, weigh 300 to 500 pounds, and is the largest lizard in the world. Komodos are reptiles, but are not descended from dinosaurs. 
Komodo dragons are dangerous predators. Their teeth are more like a shark's than a reptile's. Adult komodos prefer to eat dead things, but will prey on pigs, goats, monkeys, deer, young buffaloes, horses, and other Komodo dragons, often eating up to 80% of their body weight in one meal. They eat almost all of a carcass, consuming bones, skin, and hooves. A large dragon can swallow a whole wild pig; their jaws expand like a snake's. It has always been assumed that their bite is lethal because the bacteria in their mouths is so poisonous that wounds often do not heal. Their victim, if it manages to escape, dies in a day or two. Recent evidence (2009) suggests that Komodo dragons have poison sacs in the roofs of their mouths, and it is this poison which incapacitates their prey.  Komodo dragons can swim, and run very fast. They can protect themselves by climbing trees, and by using their tail as a club. Their sense of smell is very good, helped out by their large forked tongue, which samples the air, and can detect rotting flesh miles away. Baby komodos are small, only 40 centimetres long, and like to eat insects, birds, and snakes. By age five, they can be two metres long and weigh 70 pounds. A komodo dragon can live as long as 30 years |