Komodo (Dragon)

Komodo (Dragon)Including family members Varanidae monitor lizards, and Toxicofera klad, dragons are the largest lizards in the world, with an average length of 2-3 m. Large size is associated with symptoms of island gigantism, the tendency for body meraksasanya certain animals that live in small island linked to the absence of mammalian carnivores on the island where dragons live, and the rate of metabolism of small dragons. Because of his body, these lizards occupy the position of a top predator that dominates its place of living ecosystems.


Komodo dragons are found by western researchers in 1910. Her body is great and terrible reputation makes them popular in zoos. Dragons in the wild habitat has been shrinking due to human activities and therefore the IUCN include dragons as a species vulnerable to extinction. These large lizards are protected under Indonesian law and a national park, namely Komodo National Park, established to protect them.
Anatomy and morphology
In the wild, adult Komodo dragon usually has a mass of about 70 pounds, but Komodo dragons kept in captivity often have a greater body weight. Wild specimens have the largest ever of 3:13 meters long and weighing about 166 kilograms, including the weight of undigested food in his stomach. Although listed as the largest lizard the Komodo dragon is still alive, but not the longest. This reputation is held by the Papua monitor lizards (Varanus salvadorii).
Komodo has the same tail length with his body, and about 60 pieces of jagged sharp teeth along the approximately 2.5 cm, which is often replaced. Komodo dragon saliva often mixed with small amounts of blood because her teeth almost completely covered by gingival tissue and the tissue is torn during the meal. This condition creates an ideal environment for the growth of deadly bacteria that live in their mouths. Komodomemiliki long tongue, yellow and forked. Komodo dragons males larger than females, with skin color dariabu dark-gray to red brick, while more female dragons are green olives, and a small piece of yellow on the throat. Young dragons more colorful, with yellow, green and white on a black background.
PhysiologyKomodo has no sense of hearing, despite having the ear hole. [13] The Komodo is able to see as far as 300 m, but because the retina has only cone cells, these animals seem not so good to see in the darkness of night. Komodo dragons are able to distinguish colors but not much ability to distinguish between objects that do not bergerak.Komodo use their tongue to detect taste and smell stimuli, like other reptiles, with the sense of the vomeronasal organ of Jacobson's use, an ability that can help navigation in the dark. With the help of wind and habits cocked his head to the right and left when walking, dragons can detect the presence of carrion as far as 4-9.5 miles.
Dragons nostril is not a good smell tool because they do not have the midriff. This animal has no sense of taste on her tongue, there are few nerve endings of taste in the back of the throat. Komodo dragon scales, some of which are reinforced with bone, has a sensor that is connected with the nerves that memfasilitasirangsang touch. The scales around the ears, lips, chin, and soles of the feet have three or more sensory stimulation.
Komodo never considered deaf when research found that the whisper, the voice rising and shouting did not result in agitation (noise) in the wild dragons. This was refuted later when employees ZSL London Zoo, Joan Proctor trained lizards to come out to eat with his voice, even when he is not seen by the lizards.
Ecology, behavior and
Komodo dragons are naturally found only in Indonesia, on Komodo, Flores and Rinca and several other islands in Nusa Tenggara. Living in the open dry grasslands, savannas and tropical forests at low altitude, these lizards like the place is hot and dry. They are active during the day, although sometimes also active at night. Komodo dragons are solitary animals, gathered together only at meals and breed.
These great reptiles could run faster to 20 miles per hour at short distances, swim very well and can dive as deep as 4.5 meters, as well as clever climb trees using their strong claws. To catch prey that are beyond its reach, the Komodo dragon may stand on its hind legs and uses its tail as a supporter. With increasing age, more dragons using his claws as weapons, because of its large size trouble climbing trees.
For shelter, dragons dig holes 1-3 meters wide with front legs and strong claws. Because of his body and the habit of sleeping in the hole, the Komodo dragon can maintain body heat during the night and reduce the time soaking up the next morning. Komodo generally hunt during the day until late afternoon, but still take shelter during the day terpanas.Tempat dragons hiding-places are usually located in the dunes or hills with the sea breeze, is open from vegetation, and here and there scattered dung inhabitants. This place is generally also a strategic location to ambush deer.
Feeding behavior 
    Komodo dragons are carnivores. Although they eat mostly carrion, studies show that they also hunt live prey by sneaking off followed by a sudden attack against the victim. When prey comes near the hiding place of dragons, the animals immediately attacked him on the bottom side of the body or throat. Komodo can find their prey by using a sharp sense of smell, which can find the animal dead or dying at a distance of up to 9.5 kilometers.


These ancient reptiles ate in a way to rip big chunks of meat and then swallow it round front leg while holding the body of its prey. For small-sized prey until the registration of goats, their meat can be spent once swallow. Perutmangsa Fill in the form of plants normally left to a reddish saliva disentuh.Air not come out in large quantities and very helpful dragons in swallowing prey. However, the process still takes time to swallow a long, 15-20 minutes is required to swallow a goat.
Komodo sometimes try to speed up the process of swallowing it by emphasizing carrion prey into a tree, so that carcasses can be entered through the throat. And sometimes all efforts to suppress it so hard that the tree be collapsed. In order to avoid so as not to choke when swallowing, dragons breathe through a small channel under the tongue, which relate directly to his lungs. His jaw that can be developed freely, his skull is pliable and can stomach the extraordinary elastic allows dragons eat large prey, by 80% its own body weight in one meal.

After eating, stuffed dragons dragged his body to find sunshine to bask and speed up the process of digestion. If not, the food can rot in his stomach and poison their own bodies. Due to a slow metabolism, large dragons can survive by just eating 12 times a year or approximately once a month. After the meat undigested prey, dragons spewing the remains of horns, hair and teeth its prey, in clumps of mucus mixed with foul-smelling, lumps which are known as the gastric pellet. After that dragons brushed his face to the ground or into the bushes to clean up the remnants of mucus that is still attached; behavior suggests that dragons, like humans, not like the smell of his own spittle.
In the collection, most large-sized Komodo dragons usually eat first, followed by smaller according to hierarchy. Showed the greatest male dominance through body language and desisannya; are greeted with the same language by male-male other smaller ones to show its recognition of that power. Komodo dragons are the same size, may be fighting pitted forces, a kind of wrestling with how to monitor lizards, until one of them to admit defeat and retreat, although sometimes the loser may have been killed in a fight and devoured by the winner.
Komodo dragons prey very varied, covering a variety of invertebrates, other reptiles (including smaller-bodied dragons), birds and their eggs, small mammals, monkeys, wild pigs, goats, deer, horses, and buffalo. Young dragons eat insects, eggs, lizards, and small mammals. Sometimes dragons are also prey on humans and the corpses were exhumed from a shallow grave pit. This habit causes Komodo islanders avoid sandy ground and choose to bury the corpse in clay, and covered it with stones so as not to dig dragons. There is also a suspect that dragons evolve to eat pygmy elephants Stegodon who ever lived on Flores. [25] The Komodo dragon has also been observed when the shock and scare the deer a female who was pregnant, hoping for a miscarriage and the fetus can be eaten carcass, a behavior that also found in large predators in Africa. Because no midriff, dragons can not breathe in water or licking water to drink (like cats). Instead, the dragons 'scoop' the water with the rest of his mouth, then lifted his head for the water flowing into the stomach.
Bacteria and Toxic
    In late 2005, researchers from the University of Melbourne, Australia, concluded that Perentie lizard (Varanus giganteus) and other lizards, monitor lizards, and lizards from the tribe Agamidae, probably have some sort of can. As long as it is known that injuries from the bite of these animals are very prone to infection because of bacteria that live in the mouth of these lizards, but the researchers suggest that the direct effect that appears in the bite injuries were caused by the influx could force medium. These researchers have observed the wounds in the hands of humans from the bite lizard Varanus varius, V. scalaris and dragons, and all showed a similar reaction: rapid swelling within minutes, local disturbances in blood clotting, pain that gripped up to the elbow, with some symptoms that last up to several hours later.
In addition to containing can, komodo dragons saliva also has a variety of deadly bacteria in it, for more than 28 Gram-negative and 29 Gram-positive have been isolated from this saliva. These bacteria cause septicemia in their victims, if not directly kill the dragons bite their prey and prey that can escape, usually the unlucky prey will die within one week due to infection. The most deadly bacteria in Komodo dragon saliva bacterium Pasteurella multocida presumably is highly lethal; known through experiments with laboratory mice. [28] Because the Komodo dragon appears immune to its own microbes, much research done to look for the antibacterial molecule in the hope that can be used for human treatment.

Reproduction
In this picture, claw dragons can be seen clearly.

 

  Note the large nails. His nails are used to fight and eat. The mating season occurs between May and August, and eggs laid in September. During this period, male dragons battle to defend the females and territory by wrestling with another male standing on his hind legs. Komodo the loser will fall to the ground and locked. Both male Komodo dragon that can vomit or defecate when preparing for battle. The winner will fight long tongue flicked on the female body to see the female acceptance. Antagonistic female dragons and fight with their teeth and claws in pairs during the initial phase. Furthermore, males have to fully control the female during intercourse so as not to hurt. Other behaviors that are shown during this process is the male rubbing their chins on the female, hard on the back scratching and licking. Copulation occurs when males enter one hemipenisnya to the female cloaca. Komodo can be monogamus and form pairs, a rare trait for a lizard.
Females will lay their eggs on the ground hole, scraping the cliff of the hill or mound of charred birds nest-orange legs that have been abandoned. Komodo would prefer to keep their eggs in nests that had been abandoned. An average dragons nest contained 20 eggs that will hatch after 7-8 months. Females lay on the eggs to incubate and protect them until they hatch around April, at the end of the rainy season when there are so many insects.
Business incubation process is exhausting for children dragons, which came out of the shell egg after egg tore with teeth that will be dated after the heavy work is completed. After successfully tore eggshells, the baby dragons to lay their eggs in the shell for a few hours before starting to dig out their nests. When hatched, the babies are not just how helpless and can be eaten by predators.
Young Komodo dragons spend their first years on the tree, where they are relatively safe from predators, including adult dragons are cannibals, which is about 10% of food is a young lizard-iguana successfully hunted. Komodo takes three to five years to mature, and can live more than 50 years.
In addition to the normal reproductive process, there are several examples of cases of female dragons to produce children without the presence of males (parthenogenesis), a phenomenon also known to appear in several other reptile species such as Cnemidophorus.
Parthenogenesis
Sungai, a Komodo dragon at London Zoo, has been laying eggs in early 2006 after the split of males for more than two years. Scientists initially thought that these dragons can store sperm for some time the result of mating with a male Komodo dragon at the previous time, an adaptation known as superfekundasi.
On December 20, 2006, it was reported that Flora, the Komodo dragon living in Chester Zoo, UK is the second dragons are known to produce eggs without fertilization (conception of marriage): he took out 11 eggs, and 7 of them managed to hatch. Researchers from the University of Liverpool in northern England perform genetic tests on three eggs that failed to hatch after moved into the incubator, and proved that Flora did not have physical contact with male dragons. After this surprising finding, and testing conducted on the eggs of the River and found that the eggs and even then produced without fertilization from the outside.
Komodo has a ZW chromosomal sex-determination system, rather than the XY sex determination system. Flora of androgynous male offspring, indicating the occurrence of several things. Flora is that the eggs are not fertilized are haploid at first and then doubling the chromosomes themselves become diploid, and that he did not produce diploid eggs, as can occur if one-reduction division process of meiosis in ovaries fail. When a female Komodo dragon (a ZW sex chromosomes) to produce the child in this way, he passed only one of the pairs of chromosomes that dipunyainya, including one of two sex chromosomes. A single set of chromosomes is then duplicated in the egg, which is growing at a partenogenetika. Eggs that received Z chromosome would be a ZZ (male), and who receive W chromosome will become WW and fail to develop.
Suspected that this kind of reproductive adaptation allows an animal to enter a female an isolated ecological niche (such as islands) and then by parthenogenesis produce male offspring. Through marriage with his son on the next time these animals to form a population that reproduce sexually, being able to produce male and female offspring. Although these adaptations are beneficial, the zoo needs to be alert because parthenogenesis may be able to reduce genetic diversity.
On January 31, 2008, Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas became the zoo who first documented parthenogenesis in Komodo dragons in America. The zoo has two adult female Komodo dragon, which is one of them produced 17 eggs in 19 to 20 May 2007. Only two eggs are incubated and hatched because the issue of space availability; the first hatched on January 31, 2008, followed by the second on 1 February. Both children were androgynous male Komodo dragon. komodo national park