The island where dragons are real, and their nature
opera.com
Mar 23, 2020 11:22 PM
These dragons might not breathe fire or fly, but they are no less awe-inspiring or dangerous than their mythical counterparts. Up to 3m long and weighing as much as 70kg, these beasts can run 18mph (29km/h) to catch their prey. Once they have a water buffalo, or deer, between their jaws, they inject anti-coagulant containing venom into deep wounds, speeding up blood loss. The victim simply bleeds its way to an excruciating death – perhaps a fate worse even than being seared by the flames of a mythical beast.
It is a combined arsenal system,” says Bryan Fry of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. “You have the teeth as the primary weapon and, if you don’t die outright from cutting a femoral artery, you are going to keep bleeding until you are out of blood and then you are dead.
As such, they have survived ice ages, sea level rise and the many earthquakes and subsequent tsunamis that plague the Lesser Sunda Islands. But despite their enduring nature, in the late 1970s, experts began to fear for the dragons’ survival.
I have seen what this animal can do and how badly these animals can injure humans,” says Achmad Ariefiandy, with the Indonesian Komodo Survival Program (KSP). Ariefiandy’s research on the dragons has him working with the lizards in remote locations far from hospital access and he’s understandably cautious. “There is no point acting like a movie star if you end up getting bitten,” he says.
As the dragons can eat 80% of their weight and then go without food for several weeks, most of the time they lounge lizard-like in the sun. They have been known to attack islanders – there have been four fatalities in the last four decades – but the locals respect the dragons and many regard them as sacred. It’s a sentiment that Ariefiandy shares.
Komodo dragons might not breathe fire or fly but they are still awe-inspiring animals.
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