Komodo Island

 

Komodo Dragon

We’re moored off the coast of Komodo Island, home of Loh Liang National Park, established in 1980 to preserve the 3700 Komodo Dragons who live here and several surrounding islands. Approximately 2000 people also live on these islands. We walked one of the trails in the park for 90 minutes. We saw seven dragons in the forest near a waterhole which attracts animals. When a baby Komodo breaks out of its egg, it seeks protection from predators (including adult dragons) by climbing a palm tree and finding shelter in a hole in the tree. From here they feed on insects and small animals until 3 to 4 years old. Only five percent of the eggs make it to maturity of 7 to 8 years. The males can live as long as 60 years. They feed on other lizards and even the Timor deer we saw in the forest. They blend in with their surroundings and then can run as fast as 12 mph to bite their prey. The bacteria in their saliva will kill the deer. They can track the deer by their scent from as far as 5 km.

Dragon Nest

The animals are usually solitary except during mating season in June and July. The females will build a nest digging a hole about a meter deep where she will lay 20 to 40 eggs. The nest we saw on the trail was originally made by an orange footed scrubfowl.  The female dragon will guard the nest for a couple months until the rainy season in October. The eggs hatch in April. Sex is determined by the temperature of the egg. Today there are 3 males for every female. We finished our walk on the beach where we saw four Timor deer and another three dragons.

Timor Deer