More than 5,390 kilometers south of China's capital, there is a beautiful and wild place, from pink sand beaches full of girlish hearts, to the smelling and discolored beast Komodo dragon, and the diverse marine environment that can give birth to the world's largest fish, such as whale sharks and mermaids, dugongs, etc., this is the Indonesian island of Komodo, a beautiful and wild place.
The pink sand beach of Komodo Island
One of the "wild" of Komodo Island, far from the mainland, gave birth to beasts known as "dragons".
Komodo Island is located at the eastern end of the Indonesian province of West Nusa Tenggara, between Sumbawa and Flores Island. Far from the mainland, sandwiched between Australia and Eurasia, it is a small island in Indonesia, the country of archipelagos. With a maximum length of 40 km from north to south and a width of 20 km from east to west, the island has a rugged terrain with rolling hills and a maximum elevation of 735 meters, with forests and grasslands.
Komodo Island is located in Komodo National Park
Komodo Island has a savannah climate. Dry and hot, completely different from Indonesia's rainy climate, it is one of the drier regions of Indonesia. During the dry season from May to October, the average daily temperature reaches 40°C, and the frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity in the surrounding area isolate Komodo Island's ecosystem from the rest of the surrounding area, where the land and sea have given birth 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. Its name comes from a terrible legend. In the early 20th century, Indonesia was also a Dutch colony, and many Dutch people were stationed here, often traveling to and from the sea. One day, Dutch sailors saw a terrible beast resembling a "dragon" on a small island in the Lesser Sunda Islands (the main island of which is Flores). It is rumored to be up to seven meters long, has a huge body and a constant fire-breathing mouth, roaming and intimidating around the island.
In 1910, this legend, which was widely spread at the time, reached Lieutenant Van Hensbrouck, who personally took people to the island to investigate, and a few days later, he found and killed one of the "dragons" on the island and brought the "dragon" to the headquarters for measurement. It is about 2.1 meters long and has a very similar shape to a lizard. Later, due to the discovery of the "dragon", the Dutch named the island Komodo.
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 beast, known as the dragon, was actually a monitor lizard. Owens later named the giant lizard Varanus komodoensis.
And because the West previously passed this monitor lizard as "dragon", so the English name is (Komodo dragon), which translates to Komodo dragon, and this name has become another more distinctive and eye-catching name for Komodo dragons.
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, the Komodo dragon runs at speeds of up to 19–20 km/h, but due to its cold-blooded condition, it lacks stamina, so the ferocious hunter relies heavily on hiding himself, waiting for opportunities to kill prey.
A Komodo dragon
It usually hides motionless in places where prey often passes, and will quickly attack once the prey enters the ambush range, and the small short leg is 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 do not choose to kill with one hit, but use two other particularly useful skills, super venom and sensitive sense of smell, at this time, as long as they hide themselves to give their prey a bite, they can sit and wait to enjoy a big meal.
Komodo dragons used to be thought to kill large prey by bacteria in their mouths, but later scientists discovered that its saliva actually contained a lot of poison, which was 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 the snake-like forked tongue of the Komodo dragon, this helps it collect particles emitted from 9 kilometers away in the air and transmit important information to the brain through two pits at the top of its mouth.
Komodo dragons have a long scent-collecting tongue
At this time, if the bitten prey can no longer walk, death will come, and the Komodo dragon following behind it will tear off large pieces of the prey's flesh and swallow it into the stomach, and will not waste anything at all, everything will be devoured by the Komodo dragon: horns, hooves, bones, skulls and so on. The Komodo dragon's appetite matches its massive size, and it can eat up to 80% of its body weight.
The body of a cow bitten by a Komodo dragon has been damaged by venom
When it is difficult to catch live prey, as an opportunist, it also scavenges. And this fact has also given the Komodo dragon the reputation of "grave robber", because the Komodo dragon can venture into human graveyards and dig up the dead to eat.
Strong immunity allows them to scavenge
However, like other large apex predators, the Komodo dragon is easily extinct. This is mainly due to habitat loss and loss of prey. At the time of 2015, there were only about 3,000 Komodo dragons.
Komodo dragon
Komodo Island's "wild" two, unique geographical location, breeding marine behemoths all over the sea.
Komodo Island, in addition to the "dragon", the surrounding underwater world is also wild and wonderful. The Pacific and Indian oceans meet here and exchange marine life. The combination of daily strong tidal currents and nutrient-rich waters gushing from the depths of the Indian Ocean creates ideal conditions for thousands of plants and marine animals to thrive.
The colorful underwater world of Komodo Island
There are colorful coral reefs, dense mangroves, spectacular seagrass beds, seamounts, and a world of marine plants; There are also a large number of large marine animals, such as manta rays, whale sharks, dugongs and blue whales, which is a paradise for large marine behemoths.
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, and they do not have the murderous personality of great white sharks. 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 it is angry, its powerful "wings" can break people's bones and kill people. And legend has it that sometimes manta rays also 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 the manta rays are doing the trick.
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, and they have small eyes, and they have to rise to the surface of the water every 10-15 minutes to change air against the reef; If it is breastfeeding, half of his body will be exposed to the water, holding the dugong cub to breastfeed, and from a distance it looks like a breastfeeding mother, so the dugong has such a name as a mermaid.
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 animals on Earth, they can grow up to 33 meters long and weigh 181 tons, and the largest mammal on land, the African elephant, is also very small in front of them.
blue whale
Blue whales are arguably the largest in many worlds, 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, and each surface ventilation can eject a column of water up to 10 meters.
Blue whales spray water jets
It is absolutely very shocking to have the privilege of meeting such a huge giant beast once in your life, and you will feel why this world is so wonderful, and the world has such wild behemoths and such wild places.
Blue whales in the waters off Komodo Island
Of course, in addition to these marine behemoths, the waters of Komodo Island also have 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 up to 4 fire trucks, which are about the size of 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, far from the mainland, and earthquakes and volcanoes occur frequently, forming a unique land and sea ecological environment. It not only gave birth to the mysterious and terrifying world's largest monitor lizard such as Komodo dragon, but also gave birth to oppressive sea behemoths such as manta rays and whale sharks, but sitting on a quiet beach is a different scenery, beautiful mangroves, blue water, golden sunset, Komodo Island is the embodiment of wild and beautiful.