At some point in elementary school, I was told about Komodo dragons.
I was terrified.
I do not remember who told me. Might have been a brother. Might have been a kid at school. Almost definitely was one of those two things but I do not know which one it was.
A few nights ago, though, I landed on the Komodo dragon’s Wikipedia page, and now I don’t feel so concerned about my chances of surviving this big, bad world for a few more years.
The reason is that, you guessed it, I learned about Komodo dragons! Exhilarating. Anyway, to showcase what I learned, let’s start with what whoever that other kid was told me about the lizard:
- Komodo dragons will kill anything they see.
- Komodo dragons see things based on movement, so if you see one, you have to freeze and hope it leaves first.
- Komodo dragons have a deadly bite that will kill you in minutes.
- Komodo dragons can run really fast, climb trees, swim, etc. You cannot hide from a Komodo dragon.
- Komodo dragons live on one specific island over by Indonesia
Terrifying, right?
At some point between that conversation and now, I was also told Komodo dragons actually don’t have any venom and just have really dirty mouths, so the bacteria’s what kills their victims. Just dropping that there because it comes up again later.
Anyway, the biggest thing I learned about Komodo dragons is that they will not, in fact, murder you upon first glance. They’re actually normally scared of you. Which is the reason I was so relieved. They have, however, murdered a few people, and in one case a Komodo dragon was sitting under a guy’s desk and then bit him, which sounds premeditated to me.
Other Komodo dragon facts:
- They do live in one specific, localized area. Specifically, they live on five islands in Indonesia, one of which is Komodo.
- As recently as the 1910’s, there was concern these guys could breathe fire. They’re legendary.
- They’re the largest living species of lizard (meaning that at all times, one specific Komodo dragon is literally the largest lizard on Earth).
- Females can lay eggs that, unfertilized, will still yield male offspring.
- The jury’s out on whether they’re venomous or not, or on how venomous they are, or on something related to venom (turns out venom is fairly complex for us humans to understand), but they tend to kill prey (if they even kill it—sometimes they eat already-dead stuff) through the shock and trauma of an attack.
- The Komodo dragon can run at up to speeds of 12 mph, which is fast but not quite half as fast as Usain Bolt’s top time.
- Male Komodo dragons fight each other.
- Komodo dragons eat other Komodo dragons, so young Komodo dragons spend a lot of time hiding in trees.
- The Komodo dragon does have a hard time figuring out what an object is if it’s stationary, which is wild because that kid (or his source) evidently didn’t fully make that part up.
- Komodo dragons sometimes knock down other living beings with their tail. Seemingly every piece of them is a weapon.
So it sounds like we’re all safe, but should keep our wits about us if we’re ever on Komodo or a neighboring island. Similarly, if a Komodo dragon escapes from a zoo, make sure you have an escape route and/or a weapon whenever you approach a desk.
Wikipedia articles enlisted in this search for knowledge:
