#komodo dragons

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

Sorry if this has been answered before but yknow, tumblr search be bad. So, I've heard like conflicting information about Komodo Dragons being venomous. Sometimes I've heard they ARE venomous and have venom glands and then sometimes I hear they don't have venom glands but have harmful bacteria in their mouth. And I've heard there's only 2 venomous lizards, and those are the gila monster and Mexican beaded. So I guess, the question is are komodo dragons venomous and if so, how? 🦎

You've been getting a lot of conflicting answers because there are conflicting opinions and a lot of popular but outdated info out there! The short answer is that Komodo dragons do indeed have venom, but herpetologists disagree on what exactly can be considered "venomous." Many of my colleagues, perfectly reasonable people, have been driven to extreme emotions by this discussion because many of us do feel that the traditional definition of venom (which required a reptile to have venom glands, venom ducts in the facts, and to use their venom for killing/digesting prey) needs to be updated.

Komodo dragons having unusually harmful saliva is outdated - studies within the most recent decade have found that the bacteria in their mouths is very ordinary. They have venom glands in their lower jaws and venom ducts between their teeth, so biting and chewing prey will inject venom into the prey's bloodstream. Their venom's main purpose seems to be preventing blood from clotting, so bites will lead to massive blood loss. The fun thing here is that Komodo dragon bites are serious enough without venom (the question is honestly irrelevant because in most cases if you're bitten by one you're dead, venom or no), but veranids (monitors) are quite primitive in the lizard family tree, so the existence of venom in Komodo dragons (and likely other monitors!) lets us know that venom probably goes much further back in the reptile family tree than we once thought.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[antiqueanimals]

Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis)

Reptiles and Amphibians of the World. Written by Hans Hvass. Illustrated by Wilhelm Eigener. Originally published in 1958.

Internet Archive

[thatonegeekygirl]

ryan i don't know how to tell you this but-

komodo dragons, buddy. komodo dragons

[harkthorn]

More reptile studies! Komodo dragon, specifically

-2417

[stimperfect]

komodo dragon stimboard for anonymous!

sources: one ★ two ★ three ★ four ★ five ★ six ★ seven ★ eight ★ nine ★

Image IDs:

Top left: One of two GIFs from an Indonesian waterfall in Lombok. Three medium pieces of water falling in slow motion pour out of some trees and other greenery.

Top middle: A GIF showing someone wearing a device that gives them fake, decorative claws. A piece of plastic at the back of the hand is held on with a strap on the wrist, connecting strings to the fingers. This lets them wear and show off black claw tips.

Top right: A GIF showing two strips of dark, rocky sections in very blue, almost azure water. This is in Lombok, Indonesia. We can see foamy white currents slowly hit up against the rocks from an angle above.

Middle left: A GIF where a pile of chocolate chips gets stirred evenly throughout a bowl of cookie dough. A scoop is taken out at the end.

Middle: A still picture showing three or four komodo dragons gathered together. They’re very dark brown for the most part, almost black or gray, and a lighter tan in other spots.

Middle right: A GIF where a piece of gold-bronze sequined fabric is turned this way and that, then a piece brought up closer to the camera. It’s very shiny and almost reflective.

Bottom left: A GIF slowly panning over a section of the Borobudur Temple in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is a warm gray/brown-ish series of brick structures and ruins piling up wide on bottom and rising narrower towards the top, almost in a pyramid-esque fashion.

Bottom middle: A GIF of somone wearing two glove pieces that make it look as though they’ve got dragon or reptile arms. They cover from the hands all up the forearms just below the elbow with fake, white claws. They brush back and forth on both arms to show how the bronze “scales” push back, showing that they’re black underneath.

Bottom right: The second of two GIFs from an Indonesian waterfall in Lombok. Several smaller strips of water fall in slow motion from a different section of greenery into a blue almost circle of water. End IDs.

[avillanappears]

excellent news everyone! komodo dragon with a bucket on its head

[violent138]

Number 8 from the ask game, what could you give a 40 minute presentation on with no preparation?

Hello anon. So there are so many answers to this, but I think the one I'm going to have to go with is Komodo dragons. They're not even my favourite animal anymore but back when I was a wee youngling in grade 11 I did a metric ton of research into their food web, breeding cycles, mommy and me cloning, and their fighting stats. I could enthrall you with my deductions and decisions on what's likely on the food web (back then there were quite a few blanks).

Thanks for playing!

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

What's your favorite reptile to go see at zoos? Like, cannot and should not be a pet, but wonderful to observe in a professional environment?

Komodo dragons, hands down! Absolutely the single worst reptile you could ever choose to put in your house, but just so amazing to see. They absolutely take my breath away every single time! I will gladly go out of my way to visit any accredited zoo if they have a komodo dragon.

It's impossible to even grasp how big they are until you see them. They're massive! Ten feet long and weighing over 150 pounds, and they can be surprisingly fast!

I once had the opportunity to work with one of the Komodo dragons at the Smithsonian zoo, Murphy. He's target-trained to go to certain spots in his huge habitat, and even knows how to get into a crate on command to be weighed. He's an incredible animal!

They're just such breathtaking animals to see in professional settings. Very beautiful, very powerful.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[antiqueanimals]

Komodo dragons. Animal Ghosts. Edited by Claudia Clow. Illustrated by Walt Disney Productions. 1971.

Internet Archive

[rafefar]

Komodo Indonesia and Komodo dragons

[badgerwithagun]

Wings of Fire things that aren't talked about, part 2

Yeah, this is a series from when I talked about Skywing Champions.

Quick side note, ignore the song of the sea tag, I was browsing this when I made this post, we apologize for the interruption and send you back to your usual programming.

Does anyone remember that the Nightwings apparently produce a biological bacteria, and hunt in the same way Komodo dragons do? It's been a while, so I'm not fully versed in the physical aspects of this, but it would be something cool to see in fanart, teeth and/or nostril shape being similar to the largest lizard on earth. Not fanart from me, I'm not the best at it, and I don't plan on drawing more Nightwings, the last time I outlined all the scale patterns from the guide at the start of the books only to realise I needed to colour the whole damn thing black anyway.

[theamazingtooth]

I fucking LOVE Komodo Dragons. I LOVE THOOSE GIANT MURDER LIZARDS

[just-some-troglodyte]

what powers would a lizard devil/fiend/hybrid have?

all i could think of is: **limited** bloodless regeneration (skinks), invisibility (chameleons, if yer a dummy), super clingy wall climbing (geckos), venomous bite (beaded lizards, komodo dragons, and gila monsters), tough skin (scales), hours long breath holding [hybrid only, because i don't think devils/fiends need to breath] (most lizards reptiles can do this, don't test this @ home), tongue tentacle (chameleons, if yer a dummy 2), more sun exposure = more strength [not to a stupid extent tho, sadly] (poor understanding of exothermy), and claws! very sneaky devil/hybrid/fiend

[legendaryevokercupcake]

No one:

Absolutely no one:

Not a single soul:

Me: I know the reproductive biology of several dozen reptiles, horses, cats, kangaroos, foxes, wolves, humans, and several other species including fictional ones like Naga and Kitsune!