Until now it was thought that the bite of the Komodo monster was infectious due to bacteria contained in its mouth, and that it was the attack of these germs that ended the lives of its victims. But Bryan Fry and his team have ruled out this hypothesis after discoveringpoison glandsin the animal skull causing severeparalysis to those who receive a biteof the reptile. Analyzing the poison, scientists have discovered that it works by dilating blood vessels andpreventing blood clotting, which causes a “shock” in the victim. Fry also examined the fossils of an extinct giant dragon known as Megalania (Monitor ancient) to find out if it also possessed these types of poisonous glands. Their results, published today in the journal PNAS, revealed that this seven-meter-long lizard was one of the largest poisonous animals ever to exist on Earth.
Portrait of theKomodo dragon(Varanus komodoensis), the largest living saurian. / Chris Kegelman
The komodo monster’s bite is much weaker than that of the crocodile. But their prey bleed to death, victims of a powerful anticoagulant poison. / Chris Kegelman
The Komodo dragon before one of its prey, a huge buffalo./ Chris Kegelman
