200 nautical miles east of Bali, more than 5,390 kilometers from the capital of China, but there is a very beautiful and wild place, with pink sand beaches full of girlish hearts, the smelling and discolored giant Komodo dragon, and the most diverse marine environment on earth that can give birth to rare species such as whale sharks and mermaids, dugongs, and Indonesia's Komodo Island, a backyard of marine wildlife known as God. A beautiful and wild place.
The pink sand beach of Komodo Island
One of the "wild" of Komodo Island, located in the middle of nowhere, gave birth to the world's largest monitor lizard.
Komodo Island is located in the western part of East Nusa Tenggara Province in Indonesia, between Sumbawa and Flores Island. It's a remote island, in the middle of nowhere. With a maximum length of 40 kilometers from north to south and a width of 20 kilometers from east to west, the island is characterized by rugged terrain, mainly characterized by round mountains, rolling hills, and a maximum altitude of 735 meters, with woods and meadows.
Location of Komodo Island
Komodo Island belongs to the savannah climate, dry and hot, completely different from Indonesia's rainy climate characteristics, is one of the drier areas of Indonesia. During the dry season from May to October, the average daily temperature reaches 40°C, and the surrounding earthquakes and volcanic activity isolate Komodo Island's ecosystem from the rest of the world, where the land and sea are home to many rare and even endemic species.
A corner of Komodo Island
One of them is the Komodo dragon, the "island owner" of Komodo Island, the top hunter. The name Komodo dragon comes from a terrible legend. In the early 20th century, Indonesia, the "country of archipelagos", exiled some prisoners to serve their sentences on various unnamed islands, and some of them were very "lucky" to the then unnamed island of Komodo. It wasn't long before a terrible legend spread from the island, saying that "dragon" monsters roamed and terrorized the island.
In 1910, this legend, which was widely spread at the time, reached Lieutenant Van Hensbrouck, who personally led people to Komodo Island to investigate, and a few days later, he found and killed one of the "dragons" and brought the "dragons" to the headquarters for measurement. It is about 2.1 meters long and has a very similar shape to a lizard. He later named the island on the south side of East Nusa Tenggara as Komodo Island.
People capture Komodo dragons
In 1912, Peter Owens, curator of the Bogor Zoological Museum and Botanical Garden in Java, after receiving photographs and specimens from the lieutenant, recruited hunters, killed two "dragons" 3.1 meters and 3.35 meters long, and captured two cubs less than one meter. Owens studied all the evidence he had gathered, and he came to the conclusion that the monster, known as the dragon, was actually a monitor lizard. Owens then named the giant lizard Komodo dragon.
And because this monitor lizard was previously passed down as "dragon", the Komodo dragon became another more distinctive and eye-catching name for the Komodo dragon.
The fight of the Komodo dragons
The Komodo dragon is the largest monitor lizard in the world. The average body length is 2-3 meters, the weight is about 70 kg, the skin is rough and black-brown, the whole body is covered with scales, the face is a little hideous and ugly, the most noteworthy point is that the Komodo dragon's large mouth has 60 frequently replaced serrated teeth, each about 2.54 cm long, very ferocious when biting prey.
However, like other large reptiles, Komodo dragons run at speeds of up to 19–20 km/h, but due to their cold-blooded condition, they lack stamina, so this ferocious hunter relies heavily on hiding himself and waiting for opportunities to kill their prey.
A Komodo dragon
They hide motionless in the places where their prey often passes, and once the prey enters the ambush range, they will quickly attack, and the small short legs are now like a small electric motor. If you are not careful, the prey has already been bitten by the Komodo dragon, and it is fatal with one blow; If the prey is slightly larger, the Komodo dragon will first pounce on the prey or bite off its hind legs, and then tear the animal's throat, abdomen and other vulnerable positions with its jagged sharp teeth.
The Komodo dragon bites the neck of a deer
When encountering particularly large prey, Komodo dragons also use two other particularly useful skills, super venom and a sensitive sense of smell.
Komodo dragons used to be thought to kill large prey by bacteria in their mouths, but later scientists discovered that their saliva actually contained a lot of poison, which is the real culprit of killing prey. Venom can quickly lower the blood pressure of bitten prey, increase blood loss, and cause hypothermia, leaving the victim too weak to escape, let alone fight back.
Komodo dragons have a lot of saliva
Combined with a forked tongue like the Komodo dragon snake, this helps them collect particles emitted from 9 kilometers away in the air and transmit important information to the brain through two pits at the top of their mouths. There was an interesting story of a Komodo dragon once attracted to the house by the smell of dirty socks worn by park rangers, which it mistook for the smell of carrion.
Komodo dragons have a long scent-collecting tongue
At this time, the bitten prey can no longer walk, death comes, and the Komodo dragon following behind it will tear off large pieces of the prey's flesh and swallow it into its stomach, and there is nothing to waste, everything will be devoured: horns, hooves, bones, skulls and so on.
The body of a cow bitten by a Komodo dragon has been damaged by venom
Komodo dragons' appetite matches their massive size, and they can eat up to 80% of their body weight.
When it is difficult to catch live prey, as opportunists, they also scavenge. And this fact has also earned them the reputation of "grave robbers", because Komodo dragons can venture into human graveyards and dig up the dead to eat.
Strong immunity allows them to scavenge
However, like large apex predators such as the South China tiger on the mainland, the Komodo dragon is easily extinct. This is mainly due to habitat loss and loss of prey, and of course poaching should not be underestimated. At the time of 2015, there were only about 3,000 Komodo dragons. They are already teetering on the brink of extinction.
Komodo dragon
Komodo Island's "wild" two, unique location, gives birth to the world's most colorful marine animal world.
Komodo Island, in addition to the "dragon", the surrounding underwater world is also wild and wonderful. As the only equatorial region on Earth where the two oceans of the Pacific and Indian Oceans meet and exchange marine life. The combination of strong daily tidal currents and nutrient-rich waters gushing from the depths of the Indian Ocean creates ideal conditions for thousands of species of coral and tropical fish to thrive.
The colorful underwater world of Komodo Island
Home to colourful coral reefs, lush mangroves, spectacular seagrass beds, seamounts and over 4,000 different species, from sunfish, manta rays and dolphins to fascinating bean seahorses, razorfish and blue-ringed octopus, as well as rare and endangered species such as dugongs, it's a world of large pelagic animals. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1991.
Colorful fish in the coral reefs of Komodo Island
01, whale shark.
Many people may be impressed by great white sharks and think that great white sharks are big enough. But in fact, the world's largest sharks are whale sharks, which can reach a body length of 10-20 meters and weigh about 30 tons. In order to highlight their big feature, a whale character is also deliberately used in its name.
The body of the whale shark is mostly gray and the belly is white. The whole body is covered with pale spots, but each shark has different spots, just like our human fingerprints. And their nostrils are on either side of the upper lip, and their teeth are multi-row and relatively small.
Whale
Although whale sharks belong to sharks, they are a little different from sharks, they do not have the murderous personality of great white sharks, and they like to hunt large prey. Instead, the largest shark likes to eat only plankton and small fish from the ocean, and maybe even some algae. And their speed is also extremely slow, less than 5 kilometers per hour, compared with other sharks, they are really a gentle big guy.
Whale sharks and divers playing in the waters off Komodo Island
02, manta rays (fèn).
The sight of countless flying magic carpets flying over your head is not fake, and the underwater world around Komodo Island often plays out such spectacles.
Ocean Flying Carpet - Manta rays are the protagonists, also known as "manta rays". They can grow very large, the body disk is generally about 50-100 cm, the largest can reach more than 8 meters, and weigh up to 3 tons. Their bodies are flat, wider than long, and their pectoral fins are thick as wings, and when they flap this pair of wing-like fins, they quickly swim through the sea, covering the sky, like countless magic carpets.
Flocks of manta rays
Manta rays feed mainly on plankton and small fish and generally do not harm people. But once the anger is launched, just one beat with the powerful "wings" may break people's bones and kill people. And according to the information provided by the official website of the Shanghai Water and Oceanic Bureau, sometimes manta rays will play tricks on people, they will hang themselves on the anchor chain of the boat with their head fins, and float around with the boat, so that fishermen mistakenly think that there are water monsters, but in fact manta rays are doing things.
Manta rays in the waters off Komodo Island
03, dugong (gèn).
Dugong, can also be called southern manatee. The body is spindle-shaped, about 3 meters long and weighs 300-500 kg. They are one of the oldest marine animals in the world, the only strictly marine herbivorous mammal, and the only living species of the Dugong family.
Dugong
Dugongs are often called mermaids or mermaids. This is because their heads are relatively round, their necks are short, and they have small eyes, sensitive ears, and they have to go up to the surface every 10-15 minutes to change air against the reef; If it is breastfeeding, half of the body will be exposed to the water, holding the dugong cub to breastfeed, from a distance like a breastfeeding mother, when you see a person will quickly escape into the water, so the dugong has such a mermaid and the like.
Dugong feeding
Dugongs have historically been widely found in Taiwan, Hainan, Guangxi and Guangdong, and may still be wild in Hainan and Guangxi, but are basically functionally extinct. In a study on the biodiversity of the Hepu Dugong National Nature Reserve in Guangxi, the last recorded was on June 8, 2002, when four dugongs were witnessed in Shatin's Dingzhou Sha, according to the Shatin Fishery Administration Station, 20 years ago.
Dugong in the waters of Komodo Island
04, Blue Whale.
Blue whales are also frequent in the underwater world at the northern tip of Komodo Island, with slender and streamlined bodies, blue-gray backs and pale underparts. As the largest known animal on Earth, with a recorded maximum length of 29.9 meters and a weight of 199 tons, the African elephant, the largest mammal on land today, is so small in front of it.
blue whale
Blue whales can be said to account for many of the world's most, with a tongue of 2,000 kilograms, a skull of 3,000 kilograms, a liver of 1,000 kilograms, and a heart of 500 kilograms. Each meal is also super large, eating more than 2 million krill in one meal, and eating 4,000-8,000 kilograms of food a day. The lung capacity is even more amazing, with 15 million milliliters, equivalent to 3940 times that of a normal human, and each surface ventilation can spray a 10-meter-high water column.
Blue whales spray water jets
It is absolutely very shocking to meet such a huge beast once in your life, and you will feel why this world is so wonderful, and the world has such wild animals and such wild places.
Blue whales in the waters off Komodo Island
Of course, in addition to these marine beasts, the underwater world of Komodo Island also has spinner dolphins that jump 3 meters into the air and quickly fall back into the water after completing seven spins; There are sperm whales up to 20 meters long and weighing 4 fire trucks comparable to blue whales; There are also a large number of sharks such as blacktip reef sharks and whitetip reef sharks that are really murderous and can kill; There are also sunfish that gain 1 kg a day and look like a dinner plate with two fins on each side.
Magical sunfish
Komodo Island is such a place, located on a remote island, on the one hand, from the island "owner" Komodo dragon mystery and horror, on the other hand from the surrounding deep-sea giant beasts oppression, but sitting on a quiet beach is a different scenery, beautiful mangroves, blue water, golden sunset, Komodo Island as God's sea wildlife back garden, so wild and beautiful.