Since the birth of life, tens of millions of different creatures have evolved on the earth, and in the ecological balance, each creature has its own characteristics. Dogs as we know them, they have flexible bodies and teeth with amazing bite force; tigers, with exaggerated strength, their claws are also extremely sharp, and their biting power is also quite large; eagles, with their claws have amazing grasping force, extremely fast speed. These are the advantages of many advanced creatures in nature.
Eagles prey
In nature, there is also such a group of creatures, which are deadly poisonous, and they also use their own venom to save their lives or hunt prey. In the mysterious sea, there is a group of animals that look harmless to humans and animals, and even look good, that is, the most poisonous animal in the world, the Australian jellyfish. When a creature touches it, the spiny sac on its body will shoot out a needle-like substance, and this needle is highly poisonous.
Every year, more humans die at its hands in the sea than in the belly of a shark. There are many kinds of creatures in nature, and there are not a few creatures with highly poisonous bodies, such as the king cobra, the black mamba, and the platypus, which are well-known in the list of the world's top ten most poisonous animals.
And today I want to introduce a master of poison, but not on this list, it has a very domineering sounding name - Komodo Dragon.
Komodo dragons
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > Komodo dragon</h1>
Komodo dragon is actually a Komodo dragon, a species of monitor lizards, not our Chinese dragon branch, which is a reptile and the largest lizard among all the lizard species in existence. Komodo lizards are mainly found in tropical rainforests and often go under rocks to hide from the sun. At present, komodo monitor lizards are on the verge of extinction, with only more than 3,000 monitor lizards left in the wild, Indonesia has established a komodo dragon conservation park on komodo island to protect this species, in 1991, komodo national park was listed as a world heritage site, and komodo monitor lizards were also included in the IUCN and included in the 2012 red list of threatened species.
Giant Komodo dragons
The Komodo dragon, the largest specific from its name can be seen, its body size is the largest among the lizard species, the average body length can reach 3 meters, the weight can reach up to 165 kg, is completely a creeping monster appearance. And the most characteristic is this creature, they will always grow, non-stop for a lifetime, from the juvenile to grow rapidly, after the adult growth rate began to slow down, gradually slowly grow their body size. The most noteworthy thing is that the life span of the monitor lizard can reach 100 years, that is to say, under normal conditions, a monitor lizard will continue to grow for 100 years, which is a terrible thing to think.
Komodo dragon cubs
The Komodo dragon has no fur and scales, but has a thick skin covered with black-brown bumps, and its skin defense is amazing, and the average animal is simply not enough to break through its hard skin, and even the snakes we know, when fighting with it, cannot break through its defenses by biting.
Komodo dragons playing
The Komodo dragon also has a very powerful tail, the force caused by the swing is enough to hit any enemy hard, and it also has a pair of hard and powerful claws, which is undoubtedly a tiger for the dragon hunting.
Use the tail as a body support
The monitor lizard's sensory organs are also advantageous, it has normal facial features, but its tongue is very long and can capture the smell of food within 1000 meters. In the end, its legs are very powerful, it runs fast, and it can fully play its advantage when hunting. Such a creature, just by seeing these advantages, is enough to make it stand at the top of the food chain, in fact, it is far more than that, because it has another nickname "the most poisonous large creature".
"Lizards" cannot be disguised
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" > the "poison" of the Komodo dragon</h1>
To say that the Komodo dragon is the most frightening thing for other creatures, the first is its physical advantage of both attack and defense; the second is its poison. Through the continuous evolution of nature, the Komodo dragon has successfully evolved its own saliva, which has a toxicity in its saliva that is deadly to any living thing.
The venom of toxic organisms we know is generally formed by the constant changes in proteins in the body and takes time to accumulate, while the Komodo dragon has deadly septic bacteria in its saliva. During the battle, once the opponent is bitten, these saliva and physical contact into the opponent's body, through blood circulation, and finally cause the opponent to become ill to make the opponent move slowly, through the continuous action of bacteria, the opponent will die within 72 hours. The Komodo dragon's sensory organs are particularly sensitive, so after biting the opponent, you only need to hide or quietly follow the opponent and wait for it to die.
The power of small bacteria is not small
Whether the saliva of the Komodo dragon is poisonous has been questioned by many people, because before that, biologists studied the skull of the Komodo dragon and found that there was a pair of venom glands in the jaw of the Komodo, that is, the last person who caused the death of the opponent could not be determined whether it died from the saliva of the Komodo dragon or the venom it originally possessed.
Venom glands of komodo dragons
Scientists have studied poisoned corpses and found that these organisms generally die from sepsis, which is caused by systemic infections caused by bacteria invading the bloodstream. Through the study of the mouth of the Komodo dragon, biologists have found a lot of carrion on the teeth of the Komodo dragon, and on these carrion, there are a variety of deadly pathogenic bacteria.
Since the Komodo dragon can rely on the bacteria on the saliva to hunt, how toxic is it? In 2009, a foreign biological research team conducted a study on the toxicity of komodo dragons and found that the venom glands of the jaws of komodo dragons secrete blood-type toxins, which can play a role in lowering blood pressure and anticoagulant blood. According to studies, an adult monitor lizard can secrete up to 30mg of venom, and only 15mg of venom is needed to successfully kill a deer. Although we found a large amount of venom in the Komodo dragon, it is impossible to determine whether it will release its own venom when the monitor lizard hunts.
Komodo dragons while hunting
But in any case, the Komodo dragon's killing methods are ever-changing, not only can they use their own advantages to hunt directly, encounter large creatures, but also slowly kill their enemies through saliva bacterial infections and the release of venom. After understanding such a cold-blooded creature, it is like seeing it for the first time, like a monster left over from the earth, the combat power is too strong, and it has almost become a "myth" in the animal kingdom. Between the Komodo dragon living in a tropical rainforest environment, there are not many strong creatures to fight with it, so if it and some of the overlords in the grasslands, forests, swamps to pk, who will lose and who win?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="15" > Komodo dragon vs tiger</h1>
Tigers, already recognized as forest overlords, have unmatched strengths that most creatures can match, as well as amazing bites. And when the Komodo dragon meets the tiger, which side wins? Since both are endangered and protected animals, biologists dare not take such risks. However, it is said that some enthusiasts have used models to simulate confrontations.
Tigers are also not animals to be underestimated
Tigers in terms of physical advantages, can throw out the Komodo dragon a few streets, but don't forget, Komodo dragons do not all rely on their own bodies to prey, more rely on the bacteria carried in the saliva and the venom produced by the jaw, and as long as the tiger is bitten by the Komodo dragon, the tiger can only slowly lose signs of life. This means that the tiger may break through the Komodo dragon's defenses in a short period of time and then kill it, but the tiger will also die in a few days, which is a lose-lose ending.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="17" > Komodo dragon vs crocodile</h1>
Crocodiles are known to be the overlords of the swamps, with thick skins and a huge mouth that is enough to keep them at the top of the food chain. But what everyone did not expect was that the Komodo dragon was actually a natural enemy of crocodiles, and they were also reptiles, but why should the Komodo dragon be better? The crocodile is also a large reptile with a huge bite force, an amazing swing of the tail, and a little larger than the Komodo dragon. In this reptile duel, the crocodile definitely has the physical advantage, but the crocodile does not have the poison and deadly bacteria of the Komodo dragon, and by virtue of this alone, the crocodile has already lost.
Crawling crocodile
On Komodo Island, not only are there many Komodo dragons, but in the swamps and bays of the island, there are also many wild crocodiles, which have territory with each other, so in general, the two creatures will not collide, but crocodiles always use their physical advantages and like to forage in the territory of other creatures. There was a video circulating before an adult crocodile invaded the territory of a Komodo dragon and was killed and eaten on the spot by five Komodo dragons. Number advantages aside, in the case of normal 1V1, the crocodile is not necessarily the opponent of the Komodo dragon, after all, the Komodo dragon also has a move that the crocodile does not have.
A showdown between a monitor lizard and a crocodile
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="20" > natural enemies of Komodo dragons</h1>
The Komodo dragon has undoubtedly been favored by heaven, and nature has given it absolute physical defense, strong attack power, and a deadly poisonous attack, so in the biological world, it has no natural enemies?
Komodo dragons have no natural enemies, and if they have to pull out one to speak of, it is themselves. Komodo dragons, when they lack food, compete with their own kind, and even eat their own children, and they are also more aggressive creatures, fighting and biting with their own kind. Of course, this is not its natural enemy, if you really want to say, human beings should be regarded as their first natural enemy, not only Komodo dragons, we humans should be counted as the natural enemies of all the creatures at the top of the food chain.
Even monitor lizards have to be careful with humans
Komodo dragon attack and defense at the same time, humans and it head-on combat of course is not an opponent at all, say it is not good and there is a danger of death, but we humans will use tools, we use tools to fight them, cold weapons are not OK, then use hot weapons, as long as you do not have close contact with them, basically there is no danger of death.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="24" > conclusion</h1>
Komodo dragons look like prehistoric behemoths, but they have existed for more than 3 million years, and after continuous evolution, they have finally gained the ability to dominate the food chain, and on Komodo Island, it is definitely the master of this island, but I don't know what will happen once they leave this environment, and compete with tigers, lions, the kings of the forest, and the overlords of the steppe.
The ruler of Komodo Island
But have you ever thought that even these apex creatures are on the verge of extinction, and you can imagine how much harm we humans have caused to them, invaded their living environment, and wantonly hunted them down, which has led to such consequences. In fact, not only Komodo dragons, but also tigers, most of which dominate one side, are caused by our reckless hunting behavior.
We humans live with these creatures in this nature, human beings are actually the most favored by nature, we have wisdom in the process of continuous evolution, and it is precisely because of this that we can get rid of the food chain of the weak and the strong. But biodiversity is extremely important to the ecological balance, and we belong to nature, not nature to us!