Komodo Dragon

The Komodo dragon is a species of lizard that inhabits the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang in Indonesia.A member of the monitor lizard family, it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to an average length of 2 to 3 metres and weighing around 70 kilograms. Their unusual size has been attributed to island gigantism, since there are no other carnivorous animals to fill the niche on the islands where they live.However, recent research suggests that the large size of komodo dragons may be better understood as representative of a relic population of very large varanid lizards that once lived across Indonesia and Australia, most of which died out after contact with modern humans, along with other megafauna.Although attacks are very rare, Komodo dragons have been known to attack humans; on June 4, 2007 a Komodo dragon attacked an eight-year-old boy on Komodo Island. The boy later died of massive bleeding from his wounds. It was the first recorded fatal attack in 33 years. Natives blamed the attack on environmentalists outside the island prohibiting goat sacrifices. This denied the Komodo dragons their expected food source, causing them to wander into human civilization in search of food. On March 24, 2009, two Komodo Dragons attacked and killed fisherman Muhamad Anwar on Komodo. Anwar was attacked after he fell out of a sugar-apple tree and was left bleeding badly from bites to his hands, body, legs, and neck. He was taken to a clinic on the neighboring island of Flores where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

In a bizarre incident in June 2001, Phil Bronstein, Executive Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, was given a special tour of the Komodo dragons at the Los Angeles Zoo for a Father's Day present by his wife, the actress Sharon Stone. Bronstein and Stone were benefactors of the zoo. While barefooted and petting one of the dragons, Bronstein was bitten and subsequently lost his big toe.