If you travel to East Nusa Tenggara then a visit to Komodo island is a must even if only to experience the other fauna and flora in the Komodo National Park. The residents of Komodo island are naturally the Komodo Dragon, the largest of all known lizards, and of course the park rangers live there too. These magnificent creatures (the dragons, not the rangers!) are also found in the nearby island of Rinca. The island of Komodo was declared a world heritage site in 1986 by UNESCO and at that time, the estimated komodo population was around 3,000. Normally, Komodo Dragons hunt large game like deer and boars and are very fast-moving and are not, as believe has it, devourers of humans. But, there is always a first time. And now, this great living treasure of Indonesia, is on the verge of extinction due to forest fires and illegal poaching.
Photo Credit: www.draconian.com
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It doesn’t surprise me that the Komodo dragon is on the verge of extinction - if not from poaching and forest fires, but from sheer boredom. What are the chances of the dragons finding any good wildlife on Komodo island? When we visited the island, the dragons looked as if they’d been drugged. It has to be better being an alligator in the Everglades.