Mad about Science: By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist If there’s one thing you know about me by now, it’s that I love giant reptiles. Talking about non-extinct giant reptiles, aside from crocodiles, it doesn’t get any bigger than the Komodo dragon. The Komodo dragon is a giant monitor lizard. If that sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve probably seen his cousins, the Savannah monitor and the spiny-tailed monitor, respectively, at pet stores. Unlike those gentle beasts, the Komodo dragon has earned a fearsome reputation. Komodos can reach 10 feet long and weigh as much as 300 pounds. Keeping that in mind, a successful Komodo dragon can eat as much as 80 percent of its body weight in a single sitting. If an NFL linebacker were to do that, he’d have to eat 392 sub sandwiches at once over about 20 minutes. This is way more disgusting and violent than it sounds. Unlike sub sandwiches, the Komodo dragon’s food source isn’t pre-built to be eaten. It’s still alive and very much wants to stay alive. Goats, wild pigs, deer, birds and any other fleshy bags of blood we delight in throwing on the grill are staples of the dragon’s diet. The Komodo dragon charges its prey at up to 11mph and violently attacks it, attempting to debilitate, exsanguinate or immediately kill its prey. In the event the prey escapes, its fate is sealed the moment the Komodo dragon’s teeth break the skin. Over 50 strains of 10 /
R
/ February 8, 2018
Brought to you by:
komodo dragon bacteria live in the Komodo Dragon’s mouth, and they go bonkers when assaulting another animal’s immune system, killing it from blood poisoning in as little as 24 hours. Komodo dragons have been seen tracking escaped and dying prey with great resilience, using their sensitive forked tongues to pick up a scent trail just like snakes. When they finally reach the carcass, they have a few methods available to eat. They can tear large chunks out with their teeth, or they can adapt the snake strategy by unhinging their jaws to swallow the prey whole. They have been observed (literally) biting off more than they can chew, and ramming the carcass into trees with enough force to bring the trees down. That’s so metal. You would think a predator that voracious would cause mass extinctions on a level that only humans have perfected, but Komodo dragons have a very slow metabolism. A healthy Komodo can eat as few as 12 meals a year. How does something eating that little get so big? Island gigantism: this seems to happen on islands where large mammalian predators don’t live. Other animals in the isolated ecosystems start adapting to fill niches such as apex predator, which is the case of the Komodo dragon. They’re also fortunate enough to have some pretty impressive ancestors. Monitor lizards are descendants of Mosasaurs, predatory oceanic reptiles that could reach up to 60 feet in length and ate, well, everything. Since Komodo dragons are
basically walking pathogen factories, one would think that they’d be sick all of the time, right? They’re not! Scientists have noticed this, and wondered why they don’t get sick from the multitudes of bacteria swimming around their mouthholes, but other creatures do. It turns out there’s a component in Komodo blood that acts as an intense antibiotic. Research done into Komodo peptides have shown their blood is capable of destroying drug-resistant strains of bacteria similar to MRSA. That’s pretty dang huge. Komodo dragons have another unusual, some would argue biblical, feature. It’s possible for them to reproduce parthenogenetically. What does that mean? It means that if a female is isolated from males for an extended period of time, she can lay unfertilized eggs that will develop into male offspring, which she could later reproduce with to create both male and female offspring to continue the species. This is an extremely rare adaptation exercised by a very small number of things. The reason it’s so rare is because it’s pretty inefficient. If you’re immune to the common cold but vulnerable to influenza, self-replicating will mean your offspring, and their offspring, will always be vulnerable to influenza. However, if you find a big strong handsome Komodo dragon that’s vulnerable to the common cold but immune to influenza, mixing your genes and his has the chance to create at least one offspring that could be
Lunchtime.
immune (or vulnerable, hence, multiple offspring) to both. That’s a grotesque oversimplification of genetics, but it’s the gist of why parthenogenesis is so rare in the natural world. Being a marvelously large lizard, Komodo dragons are a major attraction at most zoos around the world. Those in captivity help raise awareness about the conservation of those in the wild. After decades of human encroachment and black market pet trade, the Komodo Dragon’s conservation status is vulnerable. That means it
has a high chance of becoming endangered in the near future. Once it crosses that threshold, it doesn’t take much to send it on a spiral towards extinction. If you want to help the conservation effort, learn a bit more about these awesome beasts and even see one in person, I can tell you from personal experience that Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle has an awesome exhibit. If you like giant reptiles as much as I do, you should definitely check it out!
Random Corner lapagos islands?
Don’t know much about the ga
We can help! • The Galapagos archipelago is perhaps one of the most bio-diverse places on earth. Ninety-seven percent of the islands are a national park and half of the land species (and one-fifth of the marine species) are endemic, or native, to the Galapagos. • Up until 2012, the Galapagos Islands were home to the sole remaining Giant Pinta tortoise in the world, known affectionately as Lonesome George until his passing. While his actual age was never certain, he was estimated to be between 90-100 years old. • First capturing the imagination of famous British scientist and theorist Charles Darwin in 1835, the Galapagos Islands became the major source of research and inspiration for his paper “The Origin of the Species” and the theory of evolution. • Floreana Island was where the Galapagos had its first post office – a barrel where those who passed through the bay could leave mail or take any they could deliver. Today the tradition is kept alive by tourists, where you can send a letter from Post Office Bay without a stamp. All you have to do in return is pick up a letter that is directed to where you live. • Thanks to its location on the Equator, the Galapagos Islands have an equal 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night throughout the year.