Welcome back to my blog, lovely readers!
It's been a week since the last post. Well, are you curious about what topic will i bring this time? it's about *drumroll* .... KOMODO! A lot of us have heard about the animal. It's often mentioned in our biology lesson, biodiversity right? So it's not a waste of time if you read the komodo article in today's post, let's check it out!
This is the classification
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Scleroglossa |
| Family: | Varanidae |
| Genus: | Various |
| Species: | V. komodoensis |
Introduction
If we take a look at komodo closely,
maybe we would find a resemblance with an animal. hm, let me think.. let me
guess.. yep, it's like a lizard. Varanus komodoensis is the
largest extant lizard on Earth and is endemic to several small islands in
Indonesia. The genus name, Varanus is the latinization
of
the Arabic word "waran"
which stands for monitor (Egyptians believed these lizards served as monitors,
alerting people to the presence of crocodiles). Usually people called komodo as
komodo dragon, komodo monitor, and 'ora' in Manggarai dialect.
History and Evolution
V. komodoensis share a
common ancestor with dinosaurs, but do not descend from them. Fossil
records show that around 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, a
species related to the present-day Varanidae appeared and reached Australia by
about 15 million years ago. From this species descended a second lineage
which differentiated into V. komodoensis about 4 million
years ago.There has been much debate about how V. komodoensis evolved
to be as large as it is, despite being isolated on small islands with limited
resources. One theory suggests that the presence of pigmy elephants or
stegodonts selected for larger dragons. The larger the dragon, the more
capable it is of hunting large prey such as pigmy elephants.
Discovery
The Komodo dragon was first
documented in 1910 by Lieutenant van Steyn van Hensbroek who went to Komodo
Island after hearing stories about giant lizards. He killed a
dragon and sent the skin and several photographs to Peter A. Ouwens, director
of the Zoological Museum and Botanical Garden at Bogor, Java, who eventually
determined that the dragon was a monitor lizard. Several expeditions
followed including an expedition led by W. Douglas Burden which captured 27
specimens and examined at least 70 individuals in 1926.
Physical Characteristic
ΓΌ average length of 2.6 m and an average weight of
40-70kg.
1. Sharp, curved claws and around 60 curved, serrated teeth with 4-5 replacement teeth at each position
2. The serrations in the teeth help Komodos tear large prey into smaller pieces. the decay of these pieces promotes the growth of several highly septic bacteria. Which later, can cause the death of the prey.
3. Color : adults are grey or clay coloured; young are more colourful, with brighter, speckled skin
4. Smell : primary food detector; an detect carrion from as far as 5 km away
5. Vision : retinas possess only cone cells which can detect colour but are weak in dim light, can see as far as 300 m, is useful in hunting to detect motion
6. Hearing : komodos are not deaf, but they do not rely on sound as much as smell, can only hear a small range of frequencies
1. Sharp, curved claws and around 60 curved, serrated teeth with 4-5 replacement teeth at each position
2. The serrations in the teeth help Komodos tear large prey into smaller pieces. the decay of these pieces promotes the growth of several highly septic bacteria. Which later, can cause the death of the prey.
3. Color : adults are grey or clay coloured; young are more colourful, with brighter, speckled skin
4. Smell : primary food detector; an detect carrion from as far as 5 km away
5. Vision : retinas possess only cone cells which can detect colour but are weak in dim light, can see as far as 300 m, is useful in hunting to detect motion
6. Hearing : komodos are not deaf, but they do not rely on sound as much as smell, can only hear a small range of frequencies
Habitat
 |
| Komodo Island |
V. komodoensis are found naturally on the islands of Komodo, Flores,
Rinca, and Gilli Motang in the middle of the Lesser Sunda Islands in
Indonesia. All of these islands are volcanic. V. komodoensis are
usually found in rocky valleys between 500-700m above sea level and frequently
occupy regions between the tropical monsoon forest and the savanna.
Reproduction and Life Cycle
Courtship and Mating
occurs between May and August
✐sexual
maturity for both males and females is 5-7 years
✐dominant males fight by rising up on hind legs, using theirs tails as support, and grabbing at the other male with their fore legs
✐courtship is very brief
females often attack males during the early phases of courtship
✐sex ratio in wild is 3 males:1 female
✐dominant males fight by rising up on hind legs, using theirs tails as support, and grabbing at the other male with their fore legs
✐courtship is very brief
females often attack males during the early phases of courtship
✐sex ratio in wild is 3 males:1 female
Nesting
☑ females lay an average of 18 eggs in a burrow in
the ground over several days in September
☑ females clutch once a year
eggs have soft, leathery shell and incubate ☑ for 2.5-8
months
hatchlings appear in April or May and weigh about
80 g
☑ no evidence of parental care
Development
✰
not many young survive to adulthood, and they often fall victim to many
predators
✰
if they survive until 5 years old, they can reach up to 2.5 m long and
weigh 25 kg
✰ they live up to 25 years in captivity;
Auffenberg estimates a lifespan of 50 years in the wild
Parthenogenesis (Virgin Birth)
▵
offspring resulting from parthenogenesis are all male
▵
use the ZW sex-determination system in which males are ZZ and females
are ZW
▵
the female provides her progeny with a haploid set of chromosomes (and
only one sex chromosome: Z or W)
▵
the haploid set is replicated and eggs that receive a Z chromosome
become ZZ (male) and develop. Eggs that receive W become WW and fail to
develop
Source : http://tolweb.org/treehouses/?treehouse_id=4457
Questions
1. "They live up to 25 years in captivity."
The underlined word has the same meaning with ..
a. freedom
b. confinement
c. bewitch
d. jubilant
e. tardy
2. Varanus is the latinization of the Arabic word "waran" ..
Latinization means ...
a. to use words and phrases from Latin:
b. To change every word in Latin
c. to add the suffix -us behind the word
d. to make all the words in italic
e. to intermix the latin word with arabic word
3. All of the statements below are incorrect about the relation between komodo's size and it's capability to hunt the prey, except ...
a. The larger the dragon. the less capable it is of hunting small prey
a. We can always find komodo dragon in monsoon forest and the savanna
a. the skin is covered with stripes motive
b. dotted or freckles covered the skin
c. the skin is full of wrinkles
d. komodo has fair skin
e. komodo has a birthmark in their neck
Questions
1. "They live up to 25 years in captivity."
The underlined word has the same meaning with ..
a. freedom
b. confinement
c. bewitch
d. jubilant
e. tardy
2. Varanus is the latinization of the Arabic word "waran" ..
Latinization means ...
a. to use words and phrases from Latin:
b. To change every word in Latin
c. to add the suffix -us behind the word
d. to make all the words in italic
e. to intermix the latin word with arabic word
3. All of the statements below are incorrect about the relation between komodo's size and it's capability to hunt the prey, except ...
a. The larger the dragon. the less capable it is of hunting small prey
b.
The larger the dragon, the more
capable it is of hunting large prey
c.
The smaller the dragon. the less
capable it is of hunting small prey
d.
The larger the dragon, the more
capable it is of hunting average prey
e. The smaller the dragon, the more capable it is of hunting
average prey
4. Frequently occupy regions between the tropical monsoon forest and the savanna. The sentence means ..a. We can always find komodo dragon in monsoon forest and the savanna
b. Komodo doesn't live at the savanna
c. Komodo dragon often found in between the tropical monsoon forest
and the savanna
d. The tropical monsoon forest and the savanna are the only places
komodo goes to.
e. Komodo rarely go to the tropical monsoon forest and the savanna
5. Young are more colourful, with brighter, speckled skin. The italic word means ..a. the skin is covered with stripes motive
b. dotted or freckles covered the skin
c. the skin is full of wrinkles
d. komodo has fair skin
e. komodo has a birthmark in their neck
