Komodo Dragon
I would like to introduce a fearsome creature called the komodo dragon.
Appearance
The komodo dragon’s scaly skin camouflages into the dry grassy hills. Their shark like teeth can rip through the flesh of any of the komodo’s prey. If one of their 60 teeth get ripped out they regrow after three days. Some can grow to be 1.8m to 3.0m long. A human has no chance against the komodo. The komodo dragon can weigh up to 300 kg.
Diet
The komodo’s diet is full of nutritious food. Mostly they eat: wild pigs, deer, large water buffalo and when they come around… humans! When a komodo dragon leaves its nest other komodos come and eat the eggs and the babies. They are carnivores, they eat large amounts of meat. Komodo dragons can eat twice their own body weight.
Habitat
The komodo dragon only lives in 5 Indonesian countries. They live in dry hillsides and woodlands.
Enemies
The komodo dragon’s enemies are themselves. They give out a warning by puffing out their throat before they attack. Humans are their enemies too if they have weapons.
Life span
The komodo can live up to be 20-40 years old.
There are only 3,000 to 5,000 komodo dragons left in the world. This makes them endangered. They can lay up to 30 eggs.
Special features
Their saliva carries 50 different types of bacteria which can kill prey within 24 hours! If they get too hot they swim and afterwards they go into a burrow to get their temperature back to normal. When they are young they can climb trees. They can taste the air with their deep forked tongue. To get their prey they can run up to 18km/hr and they can dive for prey from 4.5 meters away.
Thank you for reading my report and I hope you have learnt something about the komodo dragon.
Sacha
