This animal, which is also as the Komodo monitor lizard, is a large reptile whose male adults weigh up to 200 pounds and up to 8.5 feet in length. The females are up to 160 pounds and 7.5 feet in length. They are carnivores with 60, yellow, iron-coated, razor-sharp teeth, which are laterally flattened. Their 60 serrated teeth are quickly replaced every 40 days or so. They also have a long forked tongue. Their tail is as long as their body. Their maximum speed on land is 12 miles per hour. They lay eggs. These animals prefer hot, dry places and can dig holes to crawl into, if it gets too hot.
Figure 1. The Komodo dragon.
They can eat up to 80 percent of their body weight in a single meal. They rely on their tongue to detect and taste their prey.
They live in the wild today on a few Indonesian islands, with the main population today on Komodo Island. In the geologic past (their oldest known fossil remains are early Pliocene time (about 4 or 5 million years ago), and about 3.8 million years ago, they lived in Australia.
Some zoos (e.g., Smithsonian National Zoo, Saint Louis Zoo, and Nashville Zoo) have representative specimens of them.
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Reptilia
Order Squamata (lizards and snakes)//
Family Varanidae
Genus Varanus
Type Species V. komodoensis
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