Komodo

Komodo Island

Of the 17,500 islands of Indonesia, only five have “komodo dragons”, a form of monitor lizard. Four of those islands are part of Komodo National Park and the fifth does not allow visitors. So, Komodo National Park is the only place in the world to see Komodo Dragons in the wild. Shortly after our visit in 2019, Indonesian authorities announced that they were considering a ban of tourism on the islands to allow for conservation efforts, improvement of the facilities, and to address issues of poaching.

The Pacific Princess anchored offshore of Komodo Island and began the process of ferrying passengers to shore in their tenders.

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As the sun rose and started to illuminate the island, a rainbow appeared.

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Komodo Village is the home to most of the two thousand humans living in the park. Many work for the Park Authority or guide diving tours to the pink sand beach. Komodo contains one of only seven pink sand beaches in the world. The sand appears pink because it is a mixture of white sand and red sand.

If you choose to go to the pink sand beach from the ship, you will take a tender to the dock, then one of the brown hulled boats partway around the island, then the little red hulled boat to the beach, and finally wade through the water to get onto the sand.

If you are on the island for a nature tour, you will need a guide to lead you through the trails and make sure that you are a “good eco-tourist”. The mound in the ground below was first built by a burrowing bird then enlarged by a Komodo to use as a cool place to spend the day and a warm place to spend the night.

Our group found a few dragons hanging out at the water hole. The man with the forked stick was there to protect us from the dragons. He did this by drawing a large circle in the dust, about 50 feet in diameter, and telling us not to cross the line. supposedly he could deter an eight foot 200 pound dragon from attaching one of the guests.

Komodo dragons were only discovered by the Western world in 1910by Dutch explorers. The normal weight for adult males is 200 lbs, and 8-9’ in length is customary. Females reach 6’. The largest recorded was 10 feet and over 300 pounds. They can eat up to eighty percent of their weight in one meal therefor they only need to take down a large animal once a month to survive. They are able to run short bursts at 11 mph. Komodos tend to hide and catch their prey by surprise. So I hope you can sprint at 15 mph and do not waste any time getting started. They can also swim for short distances.

In addition to the sharp claws and muscular body, they have venom glands that paralyze prey and prevent their blood from clotting. For this reason, Komodos only need to make one bite and then stalk their prey until they ultimately succumb to the venom within the week. Surprisingly, fellow dragons do not appear to be affected by the venom during squirmishes.

Some adults are carnivores eating young Komodo dragons. The hatchlings will live the majority of their first four years in trees, eating whatever they can find up there. They will even smear themselves with feces in desperate situations in order to be less appetizing. When they get too heavy to climb about in the trees they will learn to find food on the ground and fight with the other mature dragons. They take 8 to 9 years to mature and are estimated to live up to 30 years.

If you are living in the village, it is a good idea to check out around your buildings to see who else may be living near you.

Sometimes weak or injured or deformed animals are culled from other islands and brought to provide food for the dragons. The poaching mentioned earlier involved reducing the natural wild animals on the island and reducing the food available for the protected Komodos.

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To learn more, here is a link to a National Geographic article.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/k/komodo-dragon/?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=social::src=facebook::cmp=editorial::add=fb20200208animals-komododragon::rid=