Dragon Komodo - The reall dragon komodo from Indonesia

Komodo Dragon Profile

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Komodo dragons have thrived in the harsh climate of Indonesia's Lesser Sunda Islands for millions of years, although amazingly, their existence was unknown to humans until about 100 years ago.

Reaching 10 feet (3 meters) in length and more than 300 pounds (136 kilograms), Komodo dragons are the heaviest lizards on Earth. They have long, flat heads with rounded snouts, scaly skin, bowed legs, and huge, muscular tails.

As the dominant predators on the handful of islands they inhabit, they will eat almost anything, including carrion, deer, pigs, smaller dragons, and even large water buffalo and humans.

When hunting, Komodo dragons rely on camouflage and patience, lying in wait for passing prey.

When a victim ambles by, the dragon springs, using its powerful legs, sharp claws and serrated, shark-like teeth to eviscerate its prey.

Animals that escape the jaws of a Komodo will only feel lucky briefly. Dragon saliva teems with over 50 strains of bacteria, and within 24 hours, the stricken creature usually dies of blood poisoning. Dragons calmly follow an escapee for miles as the bacteria takes effect, using their keen sense of smell to hone in on the corpse. A dragon can eat a whopping 80 percent of its body weight in a single feeding.

There is a stable population of about 3,000 to 5,000 Komodo dragons on the islands of Komodo, Gila Motang, Rinca, and Flores. However, a dearth of egg-laying females, poaching, human encroachment, and natural disasters has driven the species to endangered status.

TOURISM FEE FOR CONSERVATION PARK ENTRANCE FEE WEST MANGGARAI RETRIBUTION FEE

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All visitors entering the boundaries of Komodo National Park are expected to pay a ‘Tourism Fee for Conservation.’

This revenue directly supports and benefits conservation (monitoring, rehabilitation, research and facilitating surveillance and enforcement), community development (alternative livelihoods, training and capacity building, micro-financing, and improvement of public services), and nature-based tourism development (construction, maintenance and operation of visitor facilities, including jetties, interpretation/information centers, restaurants, toilets, mooring buoys, and development of new tourism products).

Only by visitors contributing financially to sustainable Park revenues, can the Park’s unique marine and terrestrial biodiversity be protected and preserved for future generations.
The amount of the fee depends on the length of stay in Komodo National Park. Currently, fee amounts per visitor are as follows:

A 50 percent discount is granted for foreign visitors aged below 16 years. The fee is payable in US dollars or equivalent Indonesia rupiah.

Visitors receive a receipt for the fee amount, which is stapled to an entrance ticket made from recycled paper, and entitles the holder to a short, guided trek at either Loh Liang, Komodo Island or Loh Buaya, Rinca Island. Each trekking group is limited to a maximum of ten people. For longer trekking activities, an extra charge applies.

In addition to the Tourism Fee for Conservation, visitors to the Park must also pay a National Park Entrance Fee (Ministry of Forestry Decree No. 363/Kpts-II/1997 and No. 0878/Kpts-II/1992) and a West Manggarai Retribution Fee (West Manggarai Decree No. 22 Year 2005 concerning Entrance Fee Compensation for Tourism Objects in West Manggarai Regency).

LOH LIANG - KOMODO NATIONAL PARK

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Retail Outlet
The Loh Liang retail outlet is on the right-hand side of the building that incorporates the restaurant. The shop sells a range of high-quality, attractive GOKOMODO merchandise and selected additional items relating to Komodo National Park and the region it occupies. T-shirts, polo shirts, linen shirts, caps, stuffed toys, bags, key rings, mugs, postcards, books, silver jewellery and textiles are all sold in the shop. As with all PNK revenue-generating activities, 100% of the profits will be used to help improve the visitor experience, support conservation and local people and other park management-related activities

Local Souvenir Stalls
Local souvenir sellers’ stalls are situated beneath a specially erected shelter. These sellers are all from Komodo Village, a few kilometres further down the coast. A variety of traditional arts and crafts can be purchased here, including unique and beautifully carved likenesses of Komodo Dragons – some a few inches long, others up to a metre and more in length. Be prepared to bargain – it’s a part of the culture!

Best Time to Visit the Park
Komodo National Park lies in one of the driest regions of Indonesia with an average rainfall of 800–1000mm a year. There are only two defined seasons in the Park, dry and wet. Most rainfall occurs between December and March during which time the arid, yellow and umber landscape of the Park’s islands and atolls burst into startling green. Between April and November, there is virtually no rainfall whatsoever. High average temperatures and low humidity mean that land based activities like trekking are best confined to mornings and afternoons.

The mating season for Komodo Dragons is generally between July & August – female dragons then nest between September & November. Whilst these periods offer excellent opportunities to view unique behaviours, it should be noted that Komodo dragon sightings during mating season are slightly more rare than at other times during the year.
Between November and March, winds from the west cause large waves to break along Komodo Island’s western coast. For the rest of the year, winds are dry and come from the south. Tide driven currents can be treacherous throughout the year however, reaching speeds of up to eight knots in places. The reason why water travels so fast within the Park is because Komodo and Rinca form a bottleneck passage between two large deep bodies of water, namely the Pacific Ocean to the north and the Indian Ocean to the south. This also gives the Park its incredibly rich and diverse marine eco-system.

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LOH LIANG - KOMODO NATIONAL PARK

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Loh Liang on Komodo Island is one of two official terrestrial gateways to Komodo National Park. In 2007, new visitor facilities were constructed here, comprising an arrival area with a visitor reception building, visitor toilets and visitor orientation space; combined restaurant and retail shop with adjacent visitor toilets; and local souvenir pavilion. Buildings are low impact, with minimal foundations.

Arrival Area
Located about 20 metres back from the beach, past the 3m-high stone-faced wall that supports the ‘Komodo National Park World Heritage Site’ sign is the arrival area. A low, stone-faced wall runs alongside the path that leads to the area. Here you will find a large wooden pavilion that houses the visitor reception, a smaller one that is the visitor orientation space and visitor toilets. At the visitor reception, you or your tour leader will pay park entry fees if they have not been paid in advance and procure the services of a naturalist guide for the trek. A representative from PNK and the Park Authority are stationed here to serve you. The guide will escort you to the visitor orientation pavilion, where information panels and a large map of the Loh Liang walking trails will help you decide which of the several available treks to take. After orientation, you are then guided on one of the trails, of various lengths, inland.

Restaurant
All trails at Loh Liang return to the beach area via a single-storey building incorporating an open-sided restaurant with sea glimpses through the trees and a retail shop. The restaurant serves a variety of Asian and international dishes as well as snacks and hot & cold drinks.

Opening Hours 8am – 6pm
Food Asian & International
Seating Capacity 60
Payment Cash only, no credit cards

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KOMODO NATIONAL PARK

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Komodo National Park, the last remaining habitat of the world’s largest lizard, is one of the most unique and beautiful places on the planet. Consisting of island groups and their surrounding waters, the Park is widely recognized as an outstanding storehouse of globally significant terrestrial and marine biodiversity and, in acknowledgment of its immense value, was designated a Man and Biosphere Reserve in 1986 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.

The Park was established in 1980, originally to protect the Komodo dragon, which occupies a unique position in the Park’s terrestrial ecosystem and has a high tourism value. This charismatic species has naturally become the flagship species for the Park. Today, the Park’s conservation goals have expanded to include the entire ecosystem, both marine and terrestrial.

However, there is much more to Komodo National Park than the dragons. The Park lies at the heart of the Wallacea bio-region, a transitional zone between the terrestrial flora and fauna of the Asian and Australasian regions. This overlap between two distinct evolutionary eco-regions results in high levels of species richness, and the area is of immense importance for terrestrial conservation.

The oceans of Komodo National Park are equally important, and lie within an area known to scientists and conservationists as the Coral Triangle. This area, where the great Pacific and Indian Oceans converge, is the only equatorial region in the world where there is an exchange of flora and fauna between oceans. It is the heart of the world’s marine biodiversity, containing the richest coral diversity in the world and is home to many highly diverse and threatened marine habitats including fringing and patch coral reefs, mangrove forests, sea grass beds, sea mounts semi-enclosed bays and deep-water habitats.

Considered one of the world's best dive destinations, the Park boundary encloses 1214 km² of coral reefs and coastal marine waters, which are home to more than 800 species of fish, and 385 species of reef-building coral from 70 genera. To put this diversity in perspective, the entire Caribbean Sea, which covers an area of 2,754,000 km² and encompasses the range of habitats from coastal shallows to deep oceanic habitats, is home to only about 1500 species of fish and 30 coral genera. The Park also provides an important habitat and migratory corridor for a diverse assemblage of whales and dolphins, green and hawksbill turtles, dugongs and numerous species of shark and ray. Other spectacular features of Komodo National Park are the resident spawning aggregations of grouper and populations of manta ray, which feed in the strong currents.

From some of the most vivid coral gardens in the world to surreal savannah dotted with Lontar palms to monsoon forest, the Park presents a uniquely primordial environment. The presence of the world’s largest lizard on these islands, together with a rich marine fauna, present opportunities for wildlife viewing that are not possible anywhere else on earth.

Komodo Dragon Habitat

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DIET:

The Komodo is carnivorous and cannibalistic and it has a prodigious appetite. They regularly kill prey as large as pigs and small deer, and have been known to bring down an adult water buffalo. They are opportunistic feeders and will eat anything they can overpower including small dragons and small or injured humans (dragons make up to 10% of their diet).

An eyewitness account revealed that a 101 lb (46 kg.) dragon ate a 90 lb. (41 kg.) pig in 20 minutes. As a comparison, a 100 lb. person would have to eat 320 quarter pound hamburgers in less than 20 minutes to keep up with the dragon.

In the zoo, the Komodo dragons are fed previously frozen rats.

REPRODUCTION and GROWTH:

The life expectancy of a Komodo is between 20 to 40 years. As noted above, Komodo dragons are generally solitary animals, except during the breeding season.

The male Komodo dragon presses his snout to the female's body, and flicks her with his long, forked tongue to obtain chemical information about her receptivity. He then scratches her back with his long claws, making a ratchet-like noise. If unreceptive, she raises and inflates her neck and hisses loudly.

The female wild dragons will utilize the nest mound of a brush turkey in which she will lay a clutch of up to 30 eggs. Hatchlings are about 15 inches (40 centimeters) and weigh 3.5 ounces (100 g.).

Juveniles are multi-hued, (yellow, green, brown and gray); with a speckled and banded skin. Adult colors vary from earthen red to slate gray and black.

STATUS:

Endangered: The largest threat is volcanic activity, fire and subsequent loss of its prey base. Currently habitat alteration , poaching of prey species and tourism may have the most pronounced effect. Commercial trade in specimens or skins is illegal under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Wild Population: 3,000 to 5,000.

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Komodo Dragon Habitat

2009-02-16T05:23:00.000-08:00

Komodo dragons are the world's heaviest living lizards. They can grow to a length of 10 feet (over 3 meters), with an average length of 8 feet (2.5 meters) and weight of 200 lbs (91 kg.). Females are usually under 8 feet and weigh about 150 lbs. (68 kg.).

The Komodo dragon's keen sense of smell, if aided by favorable wind, enables it to seek out carrion. up to 5 miles (8.5 kilometers) away. Despite its size, the Komodo is fast moving and agile. They can climb trees and like all monitor lizards they are good swimmers.

Their teeth are laterally compressed with serrated edges, resembling those of flesh-eating sharks. They have about 60 teeth that they replace frequently and are positioned to cut out chunks of its prey. The highly flexible skull allows it to swallow large pieces of its food. The Komodos mouth is full of virulent bacteria and even if its prey survives the original attack, it will die of infection later. In addition, recent research3,4 suggests that the Komodos have a venom gland which is more important in disabling their prey.

Young dragons up to 29 inches (.75 meters) live in trees and eat insects, birds, eggs, small mammals and other reptiles. They will descend from the tree for carrion.

DISTRIBUTION and HABITAT:

The distribution of Komodo dragons is restricted to the Lesser Sunda Islands of Rinca, Komodo, Flores and the smaller islands of Gili, Montang and Padar. Padar does not have a permanent population. The total range is less than 1,000 sq. km. Komodo National Park makes up all islands except Flores.

The natural habitat of Komodo dragons is extremely harsh by human standards. These arid volcanic islands have steep slopes and little available water most of the year. A short monsoon season often produces local flooding. The average annual temperature at sea level on Komodo island is 80F. degrees. Dragons are most abundant in the lower arid forest and savanna.

Outsiders found out about the Komodo dragons after WW1 when a report came from a downed aircraft and the surviving pilot swam to Komodo Island.

BEHAVIOR:

In the wild, Komodo dragons are generally solitary animals, except during the breeding season. Males maintain and defend a territory and patrol up to 1.2 miles (2 km.) per day. Territories are dependent on the size of the dragon. Feeding ranges extend further and may be shared with other males. A dragon will allow other dragons to cross its territory when they are on a food run.

Dragons maintain burrows within their core ranges and occasionally males will swim from island to island over long distances. They regulate their body temperature (thermoregulation) by using a burrow.

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