Dragons of Komodo Island - how a strategy in hunting helps to win a deadly fight. Komodo - the island where dragons live

A funny description of snake-dragons was left to us by our "old friend", a Roman writer and polymath Pliny the Elder (Plinius Major)

an imaginary portrait of Pliny the Elder by a 19th-century artist;
reliable portraits of the ancient period, as we know, have not been preserved,

Indonesian Komodo island interesting not only for its nature, but also for its animals: among tropical jungle this island live real " dragons»…

Such " the Dragon"reaches a length of 4-5 meters, its weight ranges from 150 to 200 kilograms. These are the largest individuals. The Indonesians themselves call the "dragon" " land crocodile».

komodo dragon is a diurnal animal, it does not hunt at night. The monitor lizard is omnivorous, it can easily eat a gecko, bird eggs, a snake, catch a gaping bird. locals they say that the monitor lizard drags sheep, attacks buffalo and wild pigs. Cases are known when komodo dragon attacked a victim weighing up to 750 kilograms. In order to eat such a huge animal, the “dragon” bit the tendons, thereby immobilizing the victim, and then chopped the unfortunate creature with its iron jaws. Once a monitor lizard swallowed a furiously squealing dog...


Here on Komodo island, nature dictates its own rules, dividing the year into dry and wet seasons. In the dry season, the monitor lizard has to adhere to the "fast", but in the rainy season, the "dragon" does not deny itself anything. komodo dragon does not tolerate heat well, his body does not have sweat glands. And if the temperature of the animal exceeds 42.7 degrees Celsius, the monitor lizard will die from heatstroke.


Long tongue endowed komodo dragon- This is a very important olfactory organ, like our nose. By sticking out its tongue, the monitor lizard picks up odors. The tactility of the monitor lizard's tongue is not inferior to the sensitivity of smell in dogs. Hungry "dragon" is able to track down the victim on a single trace left by the animal a few hours ago.

juveniles komodo dragon painted in dark grey. Orange-red stripes-rings are located throughout the body of the animal. With age, the color of the monitor lizard changes, " the Dragon» acquires an even dark color.

Young monitor lizards, up to a year old, are small: their length reaches one meter. By the end of the first year of life, the monitor lizard already begins to hunt. Kids train on chickens, rodents, frogs, grasshoppers, crabs and the most harmless - snails. The matured "dragon" begins to hunt larger prey: goats, horses, cows, sometimes people. The monitor lizard gets close to its prey and attacks with lightning speed. Then he knocks the animal to the ground and tries to stun it as quickly as possible. In the event of an attack on a person, the monitor lizard first bites off the legs, then tears the body apart.

adults komodo dragon they eat their prey in exactly the same way - spreading the victim to pieces. After the victim of the monitor lizard is killed, the "dragon" rips open the belly and within twenty-five minutes eats the insides of the animal. The monitor lizard eats meat in large pieces, swallowing it along with the bones. To quickly pass food, the monitor lizard constantly throws its head up.

Locals tell how one day, while eating a deer, a monitor lizard pushed the animal's leg down his throat until he felt that it was stuck. After that, the beast made a sound similar to a rumble and began to violently shake its head, while falling on its front paws. monitor lizard fought until the moment when the paw flew out of his mouth.


While eating an animal the Dragon stands on four outstretched legs. In the process of eating, you can see how the monitor lizard's stomach is filled and pulled to the ground. Having eaten, the monitor lizard goes into the shade of the trees to digest food in peace and quiet. If something is left of the victim, young monitor lizards are drawn to the carcass. During the hungry dry season, pangolins feed on their own fat. Average life expectancy komodo dragon is 40 years old.

Komodo dragons have long ceased to be a curiosity ... But one unresolved question remains: how did such interesting animals get to Komodo Island in our time?

The appearance of a huge lizard is shrouded in mystery. There is a version that the Komodo dragon is the progenitor of the modern crocodile. One thing is clear: the monitor lizard living on Komodo Island is the largest lizard in the world. Paleontologists put forward a version that about 5 - 10 million years ago, the ancestors Komodo lizard appeared in Australia. And this assumption is confirmed by one weighty fact: the bones of the only known representative of large reptiles were found in Pleistocene and Pliocene deposits. australia.


It is believed that after they formed and cooled volcanic islands, the lizard settled on them, in particular on Komodo island. But here again the question arises: how did the lizard get to the island, located 500 miles from Australia? The answer has not yet been found, but to this day, fishermen are afraid to go sailing near Komodo islands. Let's think that the "dragon" helped sea ​​current. If the version put forward is correct, then what did the lizards eat all the time when there were no buffaloes, no deer, no horses, no cows and pigs on the island ... After all, cattle was brought to the islands by man much later than voracious lizards appeared on them.
Scientists say that in those days giant turtles, elephants, whose height reached one and a half meters, lived on the island. It turns out that the ancestors of modern Komodo lizards hunted elephants, however, dwarf ones.
Anyway, but komodo dragons are "living fossils".

For the first time, a European footstepped on a rocky uninhabited island located in the center of South-East Asia, in 1842. Mostly fishermen, pearl divers, salt workers and pirates lived here. A few years later, the British came here, and, as if by magic, grew out of stone rocks palaces, Gothic towers, gardens, boulevards and squares, highways and trading posts. The flags of various nations began to fly on the high masts of ships that came from distant lands. For more than 150 years, Hong Kong was owned by Britain, and only in 1997 the territory, leased by the British from China for a period of 99 years, again passed to China.

Many are accustomed to think of Hong Kong as one island. Meanwhile, Hong Kong is not only Hong Kong Island, but also most of the Kowloon Peninsula (Kowloon and New Territories), 235 islands and islets in the South China Sea. In general, the area of ​​Hong Kong is more than 1000 square kilometers.

Don't think that everyone in Hong Kong speaks English. It has a population of 6.2 million and 95 percent of them are Cantonese speaking Chinese. So not everything can be learned or immediately understood on the spot, without knowing this language. If, for example, we turn to a Chinese who lives far from wide streets and high-rise buildings, with the question of where is Tube, Metro, Subway or Underground - words that are understandable to every Englishman, Frenchman, American and Russian, then it can just cause him to panic. He will immediately cover his mouth with his palms, which means complete misunderstanding. In Hong Kong, the subway is called MTR (Means of Mass Transportation).

Few tourists know that in the depths mountain slopes there is the "Tiger Balm Pagoda", which is often called the "world of bewitching horrors." Steep slopes, dead ends, and suddenly alleys, where in the most unexpected places they are waiting just like real sculptures of terrible animals, birds, a dragon with maliciously sparkling eyes. A huge tiger carved in marble guards the entrance to the cave. They sell a unique tiger balm and tell the story of its creation... A long time ago, a poor boy ran away from China to Burma and started collecting herbs. The young doctor created a unique elixir for all diseases, and then returned to his homeland. He called it “Tiger Balm”, because who is stronger, stronger, more fearless than this beast?!

Having learned about the omnipotent medicine, it would be nice to eat. In an ordinary Chinese restaurant, they will offer bird nests, snakes, black eggs prepared in a special way, which have lain in the ground for a long time. Probably, not everyone will have a strong appetite, or it may disappear altogether. One salvation is dimsum. There are about 2000 types of them. These are Cantonese snacks - steamed seafood or vegetables. Very tasty and cheaper than McDonald's. Even in small restaurants there are about a hundred varieties of dim sum. A favorite set of dishes of an ordinary Chinese - dumplings with shrimp, pork and bamboo shoots, miniature pancakes with vegetables, tiny skewers and fish balls. Everything, of course, is washed down with hot, fragrant Chinese tea.

While in Hong Kong, it is impossible to forget about the dragons. For a great many Chinese, this is not fairy tale character, but really existing creatures. In the most expensive and beautiful area of ​​Hong Kong, there is a multi-storey building with a colossal strangely shaped hole in the middle. As if the builders did not have enough bricks. It's actually made for them, for the dragons. In Hong Kong, they are the most important. Dragons live on the tops of mountains. Every morning they go down to the sea, and in the evening they return to the top. If such a passage is not built for them, then misfortune awaits those living in the house or the house may collapse. A few years ago, all the newspapers in Hong Kong wrote about how a very solid bank collapsed in the center. Its owners did not follow the advice of the Chinese, the bank blocked the dragon's passage to the mountain, and the inevitable happened.

And about strange superstitions. One rich Chinese paid a fabulous sum to get a personal number for his car - number 9. In Cantonese, this numeral sounds like "longevity." Residents of Hong Kong Island come to visit their relatives and friends on other islands and the peninsula on small regular steamboats. They are called "ferries". But if you are in a hurry, then from Hong Kong Island you can get to the Kowloon Peninsula through a modern tunnel laid under the strait. It is better not to think that multi-ton ships are floating overhead. And then the thought comes: “How could people create such a miracle. Maybe with the help of dragons?!”

On the Lesser Sunda Islands, which arc across the Java Sea, the warnings of medieval cartographers are still relevant: dragons are here.

Features and weapons

These dragons cannot breathe fire or fly, but that doesn't make them any less impressive or less dangerous than their mythical cousins. With a length of about 3 meters and a weight of 70 kg, these animals can move at a speed of 29 km/h to catch their prey. After buffaloes or deer get into their jaws, an anticoagulant containing poison is injected into the body of the victim. The victim dies a painful death from blood loss. Perhaps such an end is even worse than dying in the flames of a mythical beast.

These dragons have combined weapons in their arsenal. The main ones are the teeth with which the dragon can easily cut the femoral artery of the victim. If she does not die immediately, then a painful end awaits her.

Modern dragons

These modern monsters are Komodo dragons (Indonesia). They live only on a few islands, including Komodo, from where they got their name. These largest lizards in the world are believed to be the last of the dinosaurs to survive. They moved to these islands from Australia millions of years ago. Scientists suggest that the animals began to spread westward and finally settled in Indonesia about 900 thousand years ago.

These dragons survived glacial period, rising sea levels, as well as numerous tsunamis and earthquakes that constantly plague the Lesser Sunda Islands. But even despite such an enviable stamina, at the end of the 70s of the last century, scientists began to fear for the survival of the species.

Earlier in the same century, Komodo dragons were hunted by poachers to sell to zoos and private collections. Even today, when the poachers have been stopped, many people still hunt them, trying to get a hunting trophy. Consequently, they are now classified as “vulnerable” in the Red Book, and their international trade is prohibited.

national park

In 1980, the Indonesian government created national park Komodo is 1810 square kilometers in size. This park includes three main islands - Komodo, Rinca and Padar, as well as many smaller ones. In 1986, this park was declared a World Heritage Site.

Such efforts to conserve dragons have been quite successful, and now their population numbers about 3,000 individuals. Most of them live on the Rinca and Komodo islands. They survived decades of hunting, and now it seems that the dragons are not in danger of extinction. However, the number of egg-laying females remains quite low, and there are other threats as well. No one can guarantee that dragons will be able to maintain their population and not join the ranks of their legendary extinct ancestors.

Discovery and study

Scientists first encountered Komodo dragons in the early 1990s, but rumors about them existed much earlier. In 1912, Dutch Army Lieutenant Stein Van Hasbrenck visited Komodo Island to look for dragons. He was able to kill one and send its skin to naturalist Peter Owens, who wrote the world's first work on giant lizards. Fourteen years later, American Douglas Burden traveled to Indonesia to bring back a dozen giant lizards for the American Museum of Natural History. His memoir, Komodo Dragons, gave the lizards their name, and stories of encounters with the "gray beast" inspired the screenwriters of the King Kong film.

Habitat and habits

Dragons have found their home on rocky islands that jut out of the sea. Unlike the lush, rain forested regions of Sumatra and Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands are relatively dry except for the monsoon periods, which last only a few months. The vegetation is a mixture of low-growing forests and savannahs, which beckon the main prey of the dragons - deer.

Thanks to such vegetation, the dragons can camouflage themselves well while they wait for their prey. Once a deer, a wild boar, or even a human (dragons are not fussy eaters) enters their field of vision, the lizards attack and use their teeth.

The amount of food a dragon can eat is equal to 80% of its body weight. After a meal, he, like the rest of the lizards, loves to bask in the sun. It is known that they can attack the inhabitants of the island. There have been four deaths in the past four decades. Despite this, the locals respect them, and many even consider dragons to be sacred.

Security

At present, not only scientists are engaged in the protection of dragons, but also state organizations. Researchers are busy looking for scientific information. To preserve the park and raise public awareness, scientists make visits to schools and villages. Many foreigners are fighting to save dragons as a species, which is rather unusual, given that komodo are local view. Consequently, it is the Indonesians who should be most interested in the study and conservation of this species.

How did human activity

Since many threats to the existence of the species come from the islanders, understanding the local culture is the key to solving this problem. Before the formation of the park, hunting for deer was a rather serious problem, since these animals are the sources of food for dragons. In the 1980s, over-hunting of deer on Padar Island led to the virtual extinction of the population in this region. Since then hunting has been minimized.

Efforts to conserve dragons have resulted in relatively stable populations on the two main islands, around 1,100 dragons each. But outside the park, on the island of Flores, the situation is not so rosy. Scientists believe that dragons used to live throughout this island, but now they can only be found on the northern and west coast, where 80 square kilometers of territory have the status of nature reserves. The culprit of this situation was the loss of habitat. Due to the development of agriculture, the number of forests has decreased. Villagers also set fires to clear pastures for livestock.

Many dragons live outside the reserves, and they suffer from the growing human settlements. As they lose their habitat, they have to fight for deer and wild boars.

The latest estimate of the dragon population within the reserve indicates that numbers have remained stable for several recent years. The researchers hope to apply the same approach to the dragons that live in the west of Flores Island. Their successful work indicates that in order to save the population, it is necessary to interact with authorities and local residents. Only under such conditions will this species be able to live for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Natural Threats

But human activity is not the only threat to dragons. Given that they can only live on a few islands in the world, their genetic diversity is limited and dragons are particularly sensitive to climate change. Rising sea levels can also destroy the coastal valleys that make up most dragon habitats. Changes in rainfall may also mean that woodlands will no longer be sufficient protection for the nest as well as the young. Young dragons climb trees for protection, otherwise they will be more vulnerable to attack, even from adults.

A winged serpent with a fiery mouth was called “tsmok” in the lands of the Belarusians. The image of the Belarusian dragon is popularized in legends and traditions, which were rethought by the classics of Belarusian literature. It was no coincidence that the monumental image of Tsmok appeared in Vladimir Korotkevich's novel "Christ Jumping in the Gardens". And among the symbols that foreigners now associate with Belarus, the local dragon stood on a par with the stork (busl) and the traditional bison of Belovezhye. The snake got its name tsmok because of its ability to stealthily sneak up on cows and wet their milk in the pasture.

In Belarusian legends, the dragon helps people rather than harms them. He keeps a secret in himself, protecting the treasure entrusted to him. In peasant houses, dragons with long tails were often depicted on the shutters, on the architraves. Dragons scared away evil forces, drove away the messengers of the Devil.

Belarusian dragons, as philologists and folklorists testify, had a strict hierarchy, reminiscent of the social ladder of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the very top platform of this hierarchy stood the dragon-prince, who commanded all the other tsmoks. This dragon lord could transform into a human. Sometimes, under the guise of a wandering beggar, he moved from village to village and looked out for the righteous and the villains. He generously rewarded the first for a merciful life, and the second. Naturally, he punished mercilessly, dooming him to torment.

He was served by smaller dragons who acted in the villages using the methods of goblin and brownies: they frightened the cattle, forced the villagers to wander through the thickets, imitated the thunder and roar of ferocious animals. Small dragons lived in a pond near the estate, in a bog, in a nearby forest. The fantasy of the peasants gave them amazing features: many clawed paws, webbed wings, terrible growths and ridges on their backs.

The villagers knew exactly how to deal with the local winged snakes. The most important thing is to appease the monster so that it does no harm. Dragons in Belarus were very fond of unsalted scrambled eggs and steamed wheat. The peasants put bowls with this treat at the threshold of their huts. In ancient times, the whole village organized trips to the swamp, taking a bull or a ram with them. By order of the village headman, the animal was thrown into the swamp so that the dragons could get enough and not go to land.

An interesting way to grow your own dragon recommended witchcraft manuals. An egg from a black rooster was required to be carried under the arm for three months. And then a small lizard could hatch out of it. Then it was possible to start training him, not forgetting to shout out the prescribed number of spells. Perhaps there were few enthusiasts who managed to follow this technology for obtaining monsters.

But some travelers who arrived in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania knew where the dragons lived in what was then Belarus. Among these people was the Austrian diplomat Sigismund von Herberstein, the author of the famous Notes on Muscovy. Passing through the Lithuanian lands, he saw how the peasants fed black lizards with milk and eggs. These creatures were worshiped as deities, begging them not to attack cattle and kill the villagers.

A long time ago, dragons were found on the mountain near the Lida Castle and in Lake Lepel. Lepel residents are still trying to appease the monsters and carry wine and a little tasty food to the reservoir. In Minsk, too, seeing a dragon in the Middle Ages was an everyday thing. They were on the mountain, where the Frunzenskaya metro station is now built. The hill used to be called Tsmokova Hill. A legend was associated with her about an ordinary guy who overcame a dragon with his bare hands, saving a stolen bride. The hero drowned the dragon in the waters of the Svisloch. Somewhere under a layer of silt, the huge bones of the monster still lie.

Many places are associated with Belarusian dragons, the names of which indicate the ancient stay of the lizards. For example, there is a Serpent stone almost 4 meters high in the Lepelshchina. Locals believe in the miraculous properties of this stone block. They say that in some lakes of Belarus you can still see kites emerging from the water at dawn. You just need to be able to wait and know the right plot. Otherwise, the serpent will not open itself to the uninitiated mouthpiece.