East Nusa Tenggara / Labuanbajo
A small island of 280 square km, Komodo is located between the islands of
Sumbawa and Flores. It is famous for its giant lizards, considered the
last of their kind remaining in the world today, the Komodo Dragon.
Called "ora" by the local people, Komodo ".Dragon" (Varanus Komodoensis)
is actually a giant monitor lizard. Growing up to 3 to 4 meters in length,
its ances-tors roamed the earth up to about half a million years ago.
Komodos live on goats, deer, and even the carcasses of its own kind. The
only human population on the island is at the fishing village called Komodo
who supplement their income breeding goats which are used to feed the lizards.
The Komodo is protected by the law and although they are considered harmless,
it is advisable to keep them at a distance. Komodo Island is now a nature
reserve, home to a number of rare bird species, deer, and wild pigs, which
are prey to the lizards as well.
The first fossilized evidence of sexually reproducing organisms is from eukaryotes of the Stenian period, about 1 to 1.2 billion years ago.
http://www.asiatour.com/indonesia/e-09nusa/ei-nus11_p.htm
Jan Garanoz
Juhu Tara Road, Juhu,
Mumbai - 400049 India
Last updated: May 10, 2010