April 16, 2008

Komodo Dragon’s Deadly Secret Revealed


A new study
make up for the
's dainty chomp.

serious damage," said Stephen Wroe, a biologist at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

Wroe and
his colleague Karen Moreno detail their findings about Komodo dragons, a type
of monitor lizard found in central Indonesia that can grow nearly 10 feet (3 meters)
in length and weigh 154 pounds (70 kilograms), in a recent issue of the Journal
of Anatomy.

investigate the mystery of how the Komodo dragon
can attack with deadly force without powerful chompers, Wroe and Moreno built a model of its head and throat with software normally used to analyze minute forces
in vehicles. The jaw may be weak, but 100 million years of evolution have given
the dragon - the largest living species of lizard - other tools to succeed.

"The Komodo
displays a unique hold-and-pull feeding technique," Wroe said. "Its
delicate skull differs greatly from most living terrestrial large prey
specialists, but it's a precision instrument."

explained that the lizard nabs prey with 60 perilous teeth, although its bite
is weak. To make up for the lack of biting power, strong throat muscles drag
the meal through the razor-sharp jowls and into the stomach.

Wroe said
the eating action removes dangerous stress from the fragile yet streamlined

remarkable reduction in stress ... is facilitated partly by the shape of the
bones," he said, noting also that their arrangement is a key to success.

Once a
Komodo dragon maims its prey, which can weigh nearly as much as the lizard, it
is swallowed whole and later regurgitated in a foul-smelling pellet of hair,
bone and other indigestible remains. The lizards are also known for their infectious
and parthenogenesis, or the ability to reproduce
without mating