Komodo Dragons: They May Not Be Pretty, But Komodo Dragons Deserve Our Protection

In the early 1990s, Hollywood flirted with the idea of presenting the Komodo dragon as a comical, even winsome creature when one played a supporting role in The Freshman. The film, based on the premise that smugglers would pay top dollar to sell Komodo flesh to restaurateurs, almost succeeded in making the dangerous species look vulnerable. However, while Komodos are vulnerable to attacks from poachers, they rule a group of Indonesian islands with sharp claws and sharper teeth.

Certainly the deer that Komodo dragons prey upon don't regard their predators as vulnerable. Since Komodos can't hear well, they rely on a highly developed sense of smell to sniff out their dinner. They also retain bits of meat in their serrated teeth, breeding dangerous bacteria; even if the prey manages to escape the jaws of a ten-foot animal that has no qualms about eating its own children, it will die from infection. Indeed, Komodos engage in the sort of behavior that most humans regard as vicious, amoral, and downright low, such as fighting rivals for female attention and stealing birds' nests for laying their own eggs.

Dutch colonials living in Indonesia learned of Komodo dragons in the early twentieth century, and researchers soon began studying their diet, behavior, and environment. The first Komodo born in captivity created a publicity stir for the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., but now many zoos around the world boast Komodo dragons. Today, the Komodos of Indonesia face threats from hunters who illegally kill the deer they feed on and from human alteration of the delicate island ecosystem. They may not be pretty, but they deserve our protection.