Komodo Dragon

The Komodo Dragon, also known as the Komodo Monitor, Komodo Island Monitor, Ora or simply Komodo is the largest living species of lizard, growing to an average length of 2-3 meters . This great length is attributed to island gigantism, as there are no carnivorous mammals to fill the niche in the islands that they live on. It is a member of the monitor lizard family, Varanidae, and only inhabits the islands of Komodo, Rinca , Padar, Flores, Gili Motang, Owadi and Samiin in central Indonesia. Dragons were first documented by Europeans in 1910. Widespread notoriety came after 1912, in which Peter Ouwens, the director of the Zoological Museum at Bogor, Java, published a paper on the topic. In 1980, Komodo National Park was founded to help protect its limited population.