The Komodo Lizard

The Komdo lizard can grow to be 10 ft. long!

       Dragons have always been the monsters of fairyland and the villains of our fairy stories. Through the ages Chinese artists have pictured imaginary dragons with curling tail, flame-like breath, and long, sharp claws. These animals of Chinese myth were regarded as a kind of divinity. In fact, the dragon is the imperial emblem of China. It is interesting to know that the large lizards of the Lesser Sunda Islands in Malaysia are sometimes called the "Dragons of Komodo."

       These giant lizards, however, do not spit fire, but they are awe inspiring. Many of them live on - small Komodo Island, which lies east of Java and south of the equator. They look very much like our little forked-tongue lizards here in the Middle West, those tiny six-lined race-runners that are about eight inches long, but the size of Komodo lizards is mammoth in comparison. Old Komodo lizards may be ten feet long and weigh about two hundred and fifty pounds. These huge, ungainly animals are a reddish brown or almost black, and the younger ones are a lighter brown.

       Each scale of the Komodo lizard is underlaid by a plate of bone that makes a fine coat of armor. Bone and scales act as a shield against enemies in case of attack. As this armored reptile advances, its tongue is kept constantly darting to investigate near-by objects‚ an impressive sight! But its coat of armor will not protect the lizard from bullets. The natives call the Komodo lizard boeaja, which means land crocodile.

       This species of lizard is found only on a few islands in the East Indies. When your grandparents were children they had not heard about these peculiar creatures because it was not until 1912 that an expedition discovered these giant lizards and made them known to the civilized world. Even on those few faraway islands they live only in certain restricted areas where the country is rough and alang-alang grasses and bushes spring up between the bare rocks with here and there a solitary lontar palm growing among the scattered trees. In the dry season this land looks very barren and forlorn, but wild pigs and deer are plentiful. These powerful lizards prey on small pigs and deer, but they sometimes vary their diet with bird and crocodile eggs.

       In recent years, the great demand for lizard skin threatened Komodo lizards with extinction. Lizard skin, as you know, is used to make shoes, belts, bags, and various coverings. But now Komodo Island has been set aside as a wild-life preserve.

       In captivity Komodo lizards become quite docile, but they show their great strength when they eat. The London Zoo once had a female lizard, named Sumbawa, that would carefully swallow a whole egg, shell and all, from a stout metal tablespoon. One time she bit through the heavy handle and ate the bowl of the spoon with the egg, which, as usual, was swallowed without breaking the shell. Sumbawa was fed about every five days on an alternate diet of twelve eggs and two pigeons or a moderate-sized chicken. Even with this picture of peacefulness, it should never be forgotten that the Komodo lizard is a wild creature. 

• Learning about Reptiles by collecting Animal Toys for Kids: Gecko, Frilled Lizard, Komodo Dragon

Visit Flores & Komodo Islands via cyberspace, Indonesia and
see where the Komodo dragon lives.