One to Eat Your Mother’s Corpse
The Komodo Dragon
When I was young, like most boys, I was fascinated by lizards and dinosaurs. Especially dinosaurs. I knew all of the names of dinosaurs, recognized which was which in books, knew what their diet consisted, and what period they thrived. Dinosaurs were an enormous deal for me and it was a childhood desire to grow up to become a paleontologist. After a viewing of Jurassic Park, the dream became a fantasy when I realized that paleontology is the study of fossils. I will never have the chance to meet a living dinosaur as they are extinct.
Until I went on a class field trip to the Toledo Zoo in Ohio. There were Komodo dragons on display. Not only did these enormous lizards plunge me back into my younger years of interest, I began a whole new idea on what I would like to do when I'm older. Of course, working in a zoo was one of those ideas, as working day to day with animals I have only seen on the Discovery Channel would be a huge thrill. I saw zoo keepers swim in tanks full of exotic fish to clean and maintain the habitat. Depending on the position gained, it would be rare to have a boring work day.
I found my professional calling elsewhere, but still think that the huge monitor lizards native to several islands in Indonesia are an awesome sight. If it wasn't for protective barriers, the 7 to 10 foot, 350 pound lizard would descend upon the unlucky stumbler with the force of a fearsome beast equipped with powerful legs, large, sharp claws, and a tail they use for more than just whipping. The Komodo dragon can rear back on its hind legs and use the support of the tail to stand up straight and tall. This must be an amazing sight, but I can only imagine feeling overwhelming fear knowing it can charge with speeds up to 12 miles per hour. It may not sound fast, but they are very stealthy, strategic hunters. They normally go for the throat.
The Komodo dragon is a carnivore in every way possible. Not only will it eat live prey, even their own as they are cannibals, but they have a steady diet of carrion. A carcass is a quick and easy meal as they have no competition on their native islands. This is called island gigantism. There was not another animal to challenge them for dominance. This explains the monitor lizards extreme size, but it does not explain the disgusting habit of digging up human corpses from graves and eating the remains. Aside from being a terrifying predator, they are also grave robbers.
While they are great hunters, they are extremely vicious when it comes to prey. They typically eat an animal alive by tearing chunks of flesh off the body while holding whatever it would be down with powerful legs. Although, if the animal is small enough, like a goat, it will be swallowed whole. To speed up the process of swallowing an animal, the Komodo dragon will ram the body of the animal against a tree shoving it further down the throat. Don't worry, the Komodo dragon will be fine during this process because it will not suffocate while swallowing an animal whole as it has a snorkel underneath its tongue. It has all the time it needs. It's also safe to say that these enormous lizards will eat just about anything, dead or alive, including horses.
If a human being, or any other animal, does survive an attack, they will undoubtedly need immediate medical attention for more than the gaping wounds. Their saliva contains a great deal of bacteria and can be considered rather venomous. While there is no antidote for the infection caused by its bite, don't worry, the Komodo dragon is completely immune to its own biological warfare. In the saliva exists a deadly strain of P. multocida, which is very serious news to a bite victim. Most animals that survived, but were bitten, typically live a week before the disease kills them slowly.
These monogamous lizards aren't all bad, though. The female can reproduce asexually in the absence of males. This was recently documented in detail by a zoo in Kansas. While it might be possible that a single female can land on an island, lay over 10 eggs, and allow them to hatch. They will all be male, but that's no problem. The female will then reproduce with the males, her very own, to allow reproduction to allow females to be born. This is obviously a rather worrisome flaw because it's a very bad idea to scrape the bottom of the gene pool barrel. Google an article about cousins marrying and then try (don't) to imagine what happens when you multiply that by eleven.
Although, they really aren't all that bad. Numerous accounts in zoos reporting that Komodo dragons have actually been taken out of their enclosures to interact with the visitors of the zoo. They become tame rather quickly and like to play. While having a brain and an impressive memory, we know that they are not confusing a bucket with a piece of meat. The Komodo dragon will carry the bucket around in its mouth, stick its head in a box, and several other documented games to engage in play. While they may be a fun display at a zoo to watch and study, people must exercise extreme caution when encountering a Komodo dragon in the wild. If provoked or have their territory threatened, they can become killing machines.
