HERE THERE BE DRAGONS

ACCORDING TO LEGEND, early mapmakers marked unexplored areas with the warning: HERE THERE BE DRAGONS.

-  Linda Wirkner

Today we know that fire-breathing dragons exist only in fantasy stories, but the giant lizards of Indonesia known as Komodo dragons are very real.

The largest lizard in the world, an average adult Komodo is six to eight feet long and weighs from 150 to 200 pounds. (Some may even grow to ten feet long and 365 pounds!) Researchers believe that Komodo dragons may have evolved in Asia millions of years ago from huge sea reptiles called mosasaurs. Today Komodos are found only on a few small Indonesian islands.

It’s rare today for a reptile to be at the top of the food chain, but these giants rule on their tiny island kingdoms. The fact that Komodos are cold-blooded creatures may have helped them survive. Reptiles don’t need to eat as often as warm-blooded mammals, which require energy from food to keep their bodies at a constant warm temperature. On these small islands, there was probably never enough food for large mammal predators to stay alive. With no other big predators to compete with, Komodos had their choice of food.