Somewhere Over the Wallace Line

We crossed the Wallace line, the dividing line between the flora and fauna of Australia and Asia. I discussed it in an earlier post. We went from the lush tropic environment of Bali to a much drier climate and environment in Flores and surrounding islands.

Our main reason for going was to see the Komodo dragons, only living on 5 islands on Indonesia. Komodo dragons are the largest lizards in the world. They are often 6 feet long with of weight of 150 pounds or more. They have many types of bacteria in their mouths. If they don’t immediately kill their prey, it will die from the bacteria in the bite.

Some dragons only eat 12 meals a year, big meals indeed. Their digestion is very slow. These cold blooded beasts are most active in the morning and evening and often chill in the shade in the hottest part of the day. They seem to have become accustomed to tourists and are indifferent to them. We were warned not to be complacent with their lethargic demeanor as they can run up to 12 miles an hour and were accompanied to see the dragons with three guards with long forked sticks.

There have been some attacks on humans, unfortunate island inhabitants or stupid tourists. The dragons have dug up new human graves and devoured the body.

The dragons sometimes enter Komodo village. The houses are on stilts for protection. A large moat has been built, but some dragons enter the village from the ocean.

A female lays around 20 eggs a year. The babies spend most of their time for several years, with their biggest predator being larger dragons. Some female dragons in captivity reproduced without males. It is believed this type of reproduction was developed because the dragons live in isolation and are agreesive to other dragons.

In addition to the dragons, we saw100’s of flying foxes/bats leaving a mangrove forest and swam with baby sharks on this part of the trip.

Komodo Village