MSNBC.com reports that an Indonesian zoo is delighted to see the hatching of 25 Komodo dragons eggs.
Veterinarian Rahmat Suharta says the eggs, from three giant female lizards, hatched at the Surabaya Zoo in East Java over the past week.
He said Thursday that the babies, weighing between 2.8 ounces and 4.2 ounces.
Here's a nice travelogue article by Lee Yu Kit on their visit to the home of the Komodo Dragons, Rinca Island.
Besides the Komodo dragons, a number of other interesting animals inhabit Rinca. One of these is the megapode, a terrestrial bird which constructs large mound nests from vegetation, in which their eggs are hatched from the heat of the decaying organic matter. Megapodes are only found to the east of the Wallace line.
[...]
The ranger, Mansur, was a soft-spoken man who was armed only with a forked wooden staff. He didn’t have any special advice, only to stay a safe distance from the animals and not to wander off the path. Since Komodo dragons can outrun a human being, I wondered what we would do if one decided to make a dash at us.
[...]
I asked Mansur if people hunted the Komodo dragon for food.
He smiled and replied, “Orang tak makan dia, dia makan orang (People don’t eat it, it eats people)”.
David Attenborough's ongoing Radio 4 series A Point of View: David Attenborough's Life Stories, this week features him talking about the Komodo Dragon. The episode is available to listen online for a week, and also as a podcast.
And, in a repost of information I previously published on this blog...
Check out the David Attenborough BBC Archive page which includes all six episodes of his Zoo Quest for a Dragon TV series, first broadcast in 1956! Unfortunately its only available to UK users, due to copyright restrictions.
Program 1 synopsis...David Attenborough and cameraman Charles Lagus begin their quest in Borneo, the first in the chain of islands they must cross in order to reach Komodo. There they trek through jungle to a village belonging to the Dayak tribe, where they are given a warm welcome. The 'Zoo Quest' team are hoping to find an orangutan and, with guidance from the Dayaks, they discover and film one in the wild. However, it is an orphaned orangutan held captive by a hunter that Attenborough falls for in the end.Amazon.co.uk has a number of Zoo Quest products available, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, or even better (because David Attenborough reads it), get the book on CD. It's a great adventure. Zoo Quest books and tapes are also available in the US: Zoo Quest stuff at Amazon.com
The BBC Last Chance To See "Radio" page has been updated again to include the full radio episode "A Man-Eating, Evil-Smelling Dragon". This episode features Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine in their search for the Komodo Dragon, and completes the series on the website.
The radio series episode guide in David Haddock's "The Story of Last Chance To See" has been updated with the link to all of the episodes, but here's the complete list anyway...
Last Chance to See – Radio Episode Guide
Prelude: Natural Selection: In Search of the Aye-Aye [Aye-Aye Lemurs - 01/11/1985]
Well that looks to be that. Stephen Fry has Twittered his final reports from the Komodo Dragon expedition, and the team are on their way back to London. I'm sure Stephen and Mark will have some voice-over work to do, but its now really all down to the producers and editors to whittle the footage down to about six hours worth of TV, ready for the autumn broadcast on BBC2.
Catching flight to Labuhan Bajo - thence a boat to Komodo. Airline not on EC approved list. Heigh ho...Safe trip everyone.
Komodo Dragons seen. Scary drooling monsters of minimal cuteness, but most impressive.
Last day's filming. Labuan Bajo-Denpasar-Singapore tonight. S'pore-London tomorrow.
Back in Labuan Bajo. Mosquito bitten, sunburnt but very happy. Lots of travelling to do.
Sweltering into a flesh soup at Labuan Bajo airport awaiting flight to Denpasar. Can't believe Last Chance To See filming over. 12/07-4/09
MSNBC.com covers the story of two Komodo Dragons who attacked fruit-picker Muhamad Anwar on Komodo Island after he fell out of an apple tree. He died at a Flores clinic a short time later.
He was bleeding badly from bites to his hands, body, legs and neck after two lizards, waiting below, attacked him, according to a neighbor, Theresia Tawa.[...]
There have been several other attacks in recent months, according to Metro TV.
The reptiles, which can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh as much as 150 pounds, have shark-like serrated teeth and a bite that can be deadly. Its saliva contains roughly 50 different known bacteria strains, so infection is a risk.
Stephen Fry has landed in Labuan Bajo, on his way to the final expedition for the Last Chance To See TV series. He only just made it by all accounts. Their final filming target is the Komodo Dragon. Here's a couple of his Tweets...
Storms in KK mean we've been forced to land in Labuan. Only just made it apparently. They carry bare minimum of fuel... Phew.
Still grounded awaiting permission to fly on to KK. Heigh ho.
A Komodo Dragon ranger by the name of Main has been mauled when one of the lizards climbed up a ladder into his hut. Metro.co.uk has the brief story.
He screamed for help clutching the neck of the still-snapping reptile, said Daniel Ngongo, a Komodo National Park official.
[...]
Colleagues ran to his aid and used wooden sticks to force the dragon out of the hut on the island of Rinca.
From the moment I arrived in Flores and told people I wanted to see the famous lizards, I began hearing stories.
[...]
It is impossible to know which, if any, of the stories are true. Still, they instilled in me a curiosity and respect for the creatures that continued to build as my boat from Flores landed on Rinca Island just as the sun was about to rise. Rinca is southwest of the more popular Komodo Island, but still inside the national park, and within 20 minutes a friend and I had our first encounter with a komodo dragon.
Leeds University has had to apologise to student Daniel Bennett, after it threw away his collection of rare Butaan Lizard excrement, just a few months before he was due to finish his PhD. BBC News has the story.
Daniel Bennett had been studying the butaan lizard for more than five years in the Philippines and was working towards a doctorate.As Stephen Fry would say - "Arse, poo and widdle!"
He had built up a large collection of faeces samples which were stored at Leeds University and then disposed of.
[...]
The 35kg (77lb) bag of excrement was thrown out during a clear-out in his lab.
The butaan is closely related to the Komodo dragon. One of the world's rarest reptiles, it was thought to be extinct for over 100 years.
Regular readers may recall my friend Bob's recent attempt to get to Komodo Island to see the local Dragons, along with his travelling companion Dave. Unfortunately, they were thwarted in their attempt due to problems with weather and transportation, but they have provided this splendid photographic account of their tribulations anyway. Enjoy.
Gotta love the BBC! Check out the David Attenborough BBC Archive page which now includes all six episodes of his Zoo Quest for a Dragon TV series, first broadcast in 1956! Unfortunately its only available to UK users, due to copyright restrictions.
Program 1 synopsis...
David Attenborough and cameraman Charles Lagus begin their quest in Borneo, the first in the chain of islands they must cross in order to reach Komodo. There they trek through jungle to a village belonging to the Dayak tribe, where they are given a warm welcome. The 'Zoo Quest' team are hoping to find an orangutan and, with guidance from the Dayaks, they discover and film one in the wild. However, it is an orphaned orangutan held captive by a hunter that Attenborough falls for in the end.Amazon.co.uk has a number of Zoo Quest products available, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, or even better (because David Attenborough reads it), get the book on CD. It's a great adventure. Zoo Quest books and tapes are also available in the US: Zoo Quest stuff at Amazon.com
I had hoped to bring you a special report and photo album direct from Komodo Island, as my friend Bob has been out travelling in Asia since September. However, he ran into severe difficulties getting to the island and eventually had to admit defeat, as his email below explains...
After taking the ferry from Bali to Lombok (the next island to the east where we planned to maybe hike the big volcano, visit the Gili Islands, or book a trip to Komodo) we found more crappy weather, so our options became limited to travelling to Komodo by bus and ferry or travelling back to Bali and flying in from there.What a terrible shame. Thanks for trying Bob, and many thanks for sharing your experiences.
We went for the 24-hour bus/ferry option to Komodo rather than travelling back to Bali. Unfortunately, by the time we reached the final ferry port on Sumbawa island ready for the eight hour trip to Labuan Bajo, we were behind schedule and reckon we just missed the morning ferry.
First, the bus company told us that we couldn't get tickets for the ferry right now because it would not depart for another four hours, and then, after a bit of arguing, we were told that the ferries had been stopped entirely due to the bad weather. The next one was due to go at 4am the next morning - but they couldn't guarantee it!
When we tried to go and check out the details for ourselves, the guys from the bus company followed us and basically told the people we were asking not to tell us anything or misinform us. We were then offered the chance to pay an excessive bus fare back to the nearest town, or wait about eight hours for a free ride back.
It was a totally horrible situation, but we eventually just got the hell out of there and got on a different bus back to the nearest town where we had to spend the night in a hotel and then fly all the way back to Bali the next day, because they didn't do flights from there to Labuan Bajo.
After we got back, we weren't particularly inclined to fly to Labuan Bajo at all, so we moped around in Bali for a day, and then I got a boat to the Gili Islands to take an open water diving course. So I'm sorry to report that we failed!! I was gutted, but it's wearing off now as we've seen some pretty cool stuff on the diving course so far. I ended today swimming with a massive manta ray, which was good for me but not so useful for you, I'm afraid. :-(
Bob
Here's a short video report about the Komodo Dragon on MSNBC.com. Not exactly earth shattering, but thought I'd pass it along.
The Komodo Dragon has been extinct on the island of Padar since the year 2000. The remaining 2500 animals now only survive in scattered pockets across Komodo, Rinca and Gili Motang islands. The StraitsTimes has a short article about these few "Vanishing Dragons". As National Park Centre supervision head Ramang Isaka told the Jakarta Post recently...
"Their droppings can no longer be found there. There is no clear reason for its extinction, but rampant poaching of deer and wild boar, its main prey, and encroaching habitat due to forest conversion and wild fires are strongly believed to be among the causes."
Padar Island was teeming with Komodo dragons in the 1980s, but bush fires sparked by poachers have gradually restricted their habitat and foraging areas and might have burned dozens of them alive, he said.
This BBC London News video covered the remarkable parthenogenesis "virgin birth" event at London Zoo earlier this year.
The map page of the BBC's Last Chance To See website reveals where Mark Carwardine and Stephen Fry will be headed for the remaining films in the TV series. They filmed in the Amazon in January of 2008, and have been in Africa and Madagascar during October and November 2008.
After a well deserved Christmas break, January 2009 will see them in The Sea of Cortez, Mexico to film endangered whales, an effective replacement to travelling to China to look in vain for the "extinct" Baiji Dolphin.
View Larger Map
February 2009 they head down to New Zealand to see the 90 remaining Kakapo Parrots and other species.
View Larger Map
The final trip will be to Komodo in April 2009. Here be dragons...
View Larger Map
In light of the BBC site's new geographic restrictions on media content, I recommend subscribing to Stephen Fry's site where he continues to post videos from the field, and occasional "blessays" and podcasts. His Twitter feed (see sidebar on the homepage) also features regular photographs of their travels, such as this encounter with a lemur on Madagascar.
Two of David Attenborough's career highlights, as mentioned in this Mirror article, are his visit to Komodo back in the 50s and his famous encounter with the Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda for his Life on Earth series.
We went to Indonesia in 1957 to find the Komodo dragon, which had never been filmed.
Today you can get to Komodo overnight, but it took us three months.
[...]
I had no intention of getting close to the gorillas. I was crawling along preparing to turn round then suddenly this thing appeared and put his hand on the top of my head and put his finger in my mouth. Then two baby gorillas came up and took off my shoes.
A lot of it wasn't filmed. The director told me afterwards he thought: "God, the gorilla's going to tear his head off... and we're only half way through the series."
Here's a short video of a Komodo Dragon baby hatching from a parthenogenetic egg at the Sedgwick County Zoo from earlier this year.
The rescued divers have been telling the tale of how they had to fight off curious Komodo Dragons by hurling rocks at them. There's a lot of coverage around the web about this story, including this one at the Mirror.com.
Last night - just hours after being rescued from a remote Indonesian island - they told how they:The BBC News page has a pretty decent article called How dangerous is a Komodo dragon?
Clung to a piece of driftwood for nine hours as they drifted more than 20 miles in shark-infested seas.
Hauled themselves exhausted on to a remote island...only to find themselves confronted by giant lizards known as komodo dragons.
Fought off one of the beasts - which theoretically could kill with its venom - by hurling rocks at it.
"They will eat anything that washes up on the beach. That's why these people would have been in danger. When you have animals on the brink of starvation they will be very aggressive and humans are not very powerful.And BBC Radio's Today show has an audio piece on the story.
In the wild they are very dangerous and would attack humans unprovoked. They bite their prey and their saliva has 80 strains of bacteria. They then wait two days for it to die and feast as a group on the kill
"If you have a couple of people throwing stones or sticks, that can work as long as you are only dealing with one or two [dragons]. They were in danger but they did the right thing.
