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You’ve been reading in bed again, haven’t you? The book on dinosaurs slips from your relaxed grip and you drift off to sleep. You find yourself in a nightmare of jungle under- growth, running for your life from the jaws of the giant and ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex. You spot a small opening in the rock face directly ahead of you and dive for it, just in the nick of time. The Tyrannosaurus shrieks in rage at missing its prey and lumbers off in search of an easier catch.

Stepping out from the cave you hear the chittering of several small animals. Within moments you are surrounded by Velociraptors. These dinosaurs are quick and agile. They’re smart, team players that can kill their prey with their poisonous spit. You are sure you’re done for when the alarm goes off and shocked, you sit bolt upright in bed. With a tremendous sense of relief, you realize it was all a dream and that dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years!

At least that’s what everyone thought until 1912! Pearl divers were searching the waters surrounding a small south sea island when they spotted a gigantic reptile on the island’s steep, rocky slopes. But when they rubbed their eyes to see if they were awake, it turned out the huge lizards were all too real. The island was Komodo Island, one of a string of islands belonging to Indonesia. The Komodo Dragon, as it has become known, is the largest living lizard in the world today. Believed to be a descendant of the dinosaur, it became stranded in small pockets of the Indonesian archipelago after the last ice age.

The Komodo Dragon may not breathe fire, but it is a leviathan, dangerously fierce and cunning. Growing as long as 10 feet and easily weighing up to 250 pounds, the thickly armored beast can kill animals 10 times its size and eat 80% of its body weight in one sitting. That is equivalent to a 200-pound man killing a one-ton buffalo with his bare hands and teeth and eating 160 pounds of raw steak! Adult Komodo Dragons spend the night curled up in burrows to reduce their heat loss. They bask in the morning sun for a couple of hours to raise their body temperature and then set off in search of food. Even though they can run as fast as a dog for short stretches(11/mph), Komodo Dragons usually ambush their prey or creep up on sleeping animals. The Komodo’s sense of smell is its primary food detector. It can smell carrion (dead animals) as far away as 6.75 miles!

The huge lizard walks swinging its head from side to side and flicking its tongue. It has a long, yellow forked tongue with which it samples the air. It then pulls the two tongue tips to the roof of its mouth where there are specialized receptors called Jacobson’s organs. These built-in chemical analyzers “smell” the prey. If the “smell” is stronger on the left fork of the tongue than on the right fork, the Komodo knows the next meal is to its left, moving towards him. And this time it is a deer.

The Komodo waits in ambush. The deer approaches. The giant lizard attacks the legs first, knocking the animal down, then lunges for the neck. The Dragon’s teeth, are its most dangerous weapon. Curved and serrated, they are like shark teeth! If somehow, the bitten deer escapes, it will not survive long. The Komodo Dragon has yet another weapon in its predatory arsenal! Its saliva is poisonous!

Komodo Dragons are also extremely intelligent. They learn hunting strategies and display evidence of advance planning. Excellent swimmers, they’ve been known to swim several hundred yards, across an ocean channel, braving whirlpools and strong tides to reach an island where villagers stock their goats. They do not attack the expectant female goats until they’ve delivered their young, insuring the long-term supply of future meals.

If, as an intrepid adventurer, you would like to see this living, breathing, ambassador from the prehistoric past, you can do so at a few zoos around the country, including the National Zoo in Washington DC. Then again, perhaps it’s sufficient to read about Komodo Dragons in The Tribune, and preferably not too close to bedtime.