Komodo Dragon (All About Hunting and Eating)

Background Info:

Komodo Dragon (all about hunting and eating) Can smell up to 5 miles away Can climb trees and are great swimmers Shredding teeth like a shark that also need replaced Flexible jaw to eat bigger chunks of food Mouth full of bacteria which kills the animal days after a bite due to infection carnivorous and cannibalistic (dragons make up to 10% of their diet) hunt pray as large as water buffalo Can eat up to 80% of their own body weight Can run 11 miles an hour to catch prey or sneak attack it

HUDO FACTS: ---Name is pronounced “Hoo-dough”, named after Indonesian town ---DOB 14 January 2003 (So this year he is 9 years old!) ---He came to us in 2010 from the Indianapolis Zoo where he was a loaner exhibit ---Was born at the Denver Zoo ---Is the grandson of the Cin. Zoo’s former Komodo Dragon, Naga, who was a donation to the US (George HW Bush) from the Indonesian gov't

Hi, my name is ______! And welcome to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden’s Dragons exhibit!

Let me introduce you to Hudo, our very own Komodo Dragon! Komodo dragons are a type of monitor lizard from Indonesia, including the Komodo Islands. In fact, they are the largest lizard in the world! They can get up to 10 ft long, but our Hudo is only about 6 ft. Some of you may remember Naga, a Komodo Dragon that lived here at the zoo years ago. Hudo is actually Naga's grandson! Hudo is 9 years old, but he still has a lot of living to do, as Komodos can live up to 50-60 years!

Komodo Dragon's are fierce hunters. They are great swimmers, climbers (see those long nails? he can use those to climb up trees) and are great on land too. In fact, baby Komodo Dragons spend most of their time in trees to avoid becoming prey for larger Komodo Dragons! And you think WE have it tough! A KD can actually eat up to 80% of it's body weight in a SINGLE meal. Take Hudo right here, he is right around 100 pounds. If you do the math, he could eat up to 80 lbs in one sitting! WOW!

Here at CZBG, Hudo eats things like chicks, fish, eggs and rodents. In the wild, KD eat animals like deer but they are also known to take down an animal as big as a WATER BUFFALO! The KD will bite large prey, let them walk away and then slowly the animals system will shut down. The animals blood pressure will get very low and the animal will eventually die from the slow acting venom found within the Komodo's mouth. They also have a flexible jaw that lets them to eat bigger chunks of food. The KD will use it's amazing sense of smell and taste to track down the carcass and it will then have a meal. They are great trackers and can follow a scent up to 5 miles away. While Hudo might look kinda slow paced, KD are known to go as fast as 11 MPH! Clearly, they are efficient hunters!

I hope you have enjoyed watching Hudo snack today! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. There's still a lot more to do and see here at CZBG, try to check out the sea lion or elephant talks at 2pm (7 days) Thanks and have a great day!