There are numerous fascinating animals around the world, either because of their unique appearance or because of the curiosity of their behavior. One of these animals is the Komodo dragon. It is a large reptile and is considered the largest on the planet. This fascinating animal is in danger of extinction for various reasons. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out some measures to be able to put it to safety.
In this article we are going to tell you the characteristics of the Komodo dragon and why it is in danger of extinction.
What is the Komodo dragon
The first thing is to know the characteristics of this animal to be able to know why it is in danger of extinction and it is so important. It is a large reptile and is considered the largest living lizard on the planet. It is also known by the name of the Komodo monster. It is a sauropsid reptile indigenous to some of the islands found in central Indonesia.
It is so famous for being the largest in the world, as it is located at the top of the food chain in the ecosystem where it lives. Although it is above the rest of the living beings in its ecosystem, it basically feeds on carrion. Like vultures, it usually feeds on the rest of other corpses of decomposing living beings. this implies that it is not able to hunt other smaller animals in certain circumstances. For example, it tends to hunt small insects, mollusks or some smaller rodents.
When these reptiles are born they are quite vulnerable so they live in the branches of trees. They do this in order to protect themselves from the attack of certain land predators. When they are young they have to protect themselves even from the possible attack of other adults of the same species. When it reaches maturity they are animals with great size and great longevity. It can reach up to 70 kilos in weight and can live to be approximately 50 years old.
Their language is similar to that of snakes. It uses it to detect odors and, together with its specially developed sense of hearing, it can become a great predator for other smaller prey. It can live in various types of ecosystems although they prefer hotter and dry places. Although it lives on the islands of Indonesia (and these conditions are not so common on these islands) they can be found more frequently in the more inland areas where there are meadows and areas devoid of trees. They do not need trees when they are adults, since it would make it difficult for them to hunt before any prey to a tree. They only need trees when they are small to protect themselves from any attack.
Why is the Komodo dragon in danger of extinction
Now is when we will analyze the reasons why the Komodo dragon is in danger of extinction. If we go to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Spices. We can see that they are in a vulnerable state. This means that their populations in the wild are limited to about 5000 individuals. These individuals are distributed throughout all the islands of Indonesia. Mainly on Komodo Island and Flores Island is where more specimens are found.
The problem that leads to this reptile being in danger of extinction is mainly due to the action of humans. As is surprising, humans turn off and destroy the habitats of these animals and cause serious damage to the ecological balance. Most of the time, when we talk about a species being in danger of extinction it is usually because its habitat is constantly being attacked. At other times we also find reason is how they are hunting, unwanted capture or excessive predation by poor population control.
In this case, human activities are causing damage to the ecosystems where the Komodo dragon lives. The main cause is the urbanization of large areas of Indonesia as well, the destruction of the natural ecosystem in order to build cultivation territories that condition the survival of this reptile.
We must also bear in mind that when a habitat is being attacked as well the amount of food available for these animals is reduced. For those who are able to adapt to the new conditions, they have no choice but to have to look for food elsewhere. Let's not forget that agriculture also produces water and soil pollution, which is why these animals are more vulnerable to impacts.
These problems entail a double problem. For one thing, not enough food is available for populations to grow properly. On the other hand, Komodo lizards also move to other places and consequently reach areas populated by humans with all that that entails.
Komodo national park
In order to give these populations the importance they deserve, a Komodo National Park was created in 1980. In this park an ecological reserve has been made with the creation of an environment to be able to protect the Komodo dragon. The main objective of this park It is to avoid extinction and encourage the increase of individuals of this species in a natural environment.
This park has had good results so it has also been expanded to protect other native flora and fauna species in the area. It reached such a point that some maritime areas of the coast that have an ecological wealth due to their particular biodiversity have also been protected.
Nowadays, Komodo National Park World Heritage Site and it is considered one of the most well-protected and best-preserved environmental zones in all of Indonesia. Thanks to this park and its protection regime, the Komodo dragon has been preserved in its natural state to date.
As you can see, the human being can also fix the errors that he has. I hope that with this information you can learn more about the Komodo dragon.