Our first stop in Indonesia was amazing – Komodo Island! Nobody was allowed off the ship unless they had an organized excursion because, well, the island has the Komodo dragon and it could kill you. It turns out it’s bad for business if a guest is killed while on land, so…

We got off the ship as part of a two-hour excursion to walk the island and see some dragons, a dragon nest, and do a little souvenir shopping. We were lucky – not only did we see several dragons but nobody was killed! It was surreal to see the huge lizards in the wild, with guides carrying sticks to protect us. Yes, sticks. No guns or anything – just sticks that they would maybe use to poke them with. We didn’t have to see them in action, thankfully.

The rest of this post is just going to provide you with some cool facts about the Komodo dragon along with some of the photos we took. It was definitely a cool experience.

1 – Ok, the obvious first. They’re not dragons. They’re lizards. But they’re BIG lizards. They can grow up to ten feet long, which is approximately the length of my first car (a Dodge Omni). They’re heavy, too – they can weigh up to 154 pounds on average, which thank you very much is more than I weigh. So, yeah… they’re big lizards.

2 – The Komodo dragon is one of the few venomous lizards on the planet. Unlike a snake, which injects venom into a victim through its sharp fangs, a Komodo dragon’s venom seeps into large wounds it makes on its prey. Basically, the dragon bites its victim, the victim stumbles away, and the dragon trails behind the poor dying victims using its keen sense of smell and predatory instinct. Yummy. Or ouch, depending on the perspective you’re taking.

3 – They use their forked tongues to smell. In fact, they can detect rotting prey from 2.5 miles away. That means their sense of smell is 1 billion times better than mine (which is horrendous, thankfully). The Komodo dragon’s sense of hearing and sight, however, are less than impressive (aka more in line with my own). Which actually begs the question of why they told none of us to wear red or orange if they can’t see well. They did also say anybody with open wounds or women who are menstruating should not leave the ship. Yikes.

4 – Their tails are super long and super strong. They can be about the length of the rest of the body and are powerful enough to take down a deer. So when they swing their tails, be scared. (Of course, it might also mean they’re also scared, as they sometimes swing them when they’re scared. But really, either way, maybe run.)

5 – If they could ride bikes, they’d be triathletes. And that’s because they can run (as fast as 12-13 miles per hour) and can swim (easily between the five islands they live on). So don’t think that escaping to the water would be worthwhile. I vote for giving them some bicycles and see if they can ride them.

6 – Here’s a fun (and surprising) fact – they’re originally from Australia! According to fossil records, Komodo dragons migrated from Australia to Indonesia around 50,000-900,000 years ago. Ok, yes. That’s a big range, but regardless the origin story has them coming from Down Under.

7 – The skin. Oh, the skin. The Komodo dragon’s exterior is composed of thousands of tiny bones under the skin. These bone deposits are called osteoderms, and they develop over a Komodo dragon’s lifetime like the rings of a tree. They’re great for protection, of course, and are sexy (probably).

8 – They’re like me at Thanksgiving… that is, they are capable of eating as much as 80% of their own body weight at once. After eating, they lounge in the sun (relatable), which as it turns out helps their digestion (because of the heat). This is where they start to differ from me at Thanksgiving. Namely, after they digest, they regurgitate what is known as a gastric pellet. Similar to owl pellets, these contain horns, hair, teeth, and other bits of prey that can’t be digested. (I don’t do this with my Thanksgiving meal.) On the plus side, these large meals mean the Komodo dragon could go with as few as a single meal a month. Me, on the other hand, I’m ready to eat again a few hours after the Thanksgiving gorge.

9 – Ok, this one’s gross. Damn Komodo dragons will eat the recently buried if given the chance. Apparently, they don’t always hunt for their food and instead will scrounge and eat a lot of carrion. This includes dead people recently buried. In fact, because of their scavenger tendencies, the (human) residents of Komodo will avoid burying their loved ones in sandy soil and instead opt for clay soil with a lot of rocks on top for good measure. No snack time for you, dragon! (And let’s just add here that Komodo dragons are jerks. They not only scavenge dead humans, but they also eat their own young. In fact, young dragons will roll around in poop to throw the adults off their trail. So there’s that.)

10 – Hey fellas – hear this one: female Komodo dragons can reproduce asexually through a process called parthenogenesis. Yep, no males needed. There have been instances within zoos where this has been confirmed – no males present yet the females laid some eggs and – voila – viable eggs. What some species will do for both Mother’s Day AND Father’s Day gifts, am I right?