Reading The Living Dragon

The Living Dragon
Dragons are mythical creatures with slender heads, a body like a dinosaur and a long tail like a lizard. What makes a dragon unique is its ability to spew fire from its mouth ornostrils. Dragons have been the stuff of legends for centuries and contemporary graphic artists enjoy drawing dragons.
Do you know that there is a real dragon living on earth today just like it hasbeen for millions of years? While it doesn’t breathe fire or rear up ten feet tall, this ancient lizard lives much like it has since prehistoric times. The Komodo dragon was discovered only about acentury ago on a remote Indonesian Islands of Komodo, Gila Motang, Rinca and Flores near the equator between the Pacific Ocean and Indian the Indian Ocean. The Komodo dragon is an endangered species;there are only 3,000 to 5,000 left. They are known to live thirty years.
The adult Komodo dragon is a huge creature, growing to a length of ten feet and a weigh of more than 300 pounds. They are theheaviest of all lizard species. They are carnivores that prey on the other animals like wild pigs, deer and even water buffalo which also inhabit the islands. A Komodo dragon can eat as much as eightypercent of its body weigh in a single feeding! The Komodo dragon is a reptile and, like its cousins alligators and crocodile, the dragon has powerful legs and jaws as well as sharp claws and teethwell-suited for larger prey. The Komodo dragon can run up to eighteen miles per hour over a short distance.
The Komodo dragon doesn’t need to run after swift prey like wild pigs and deer. Whilealligators and crocodiles lie in wait for prey in the water, the Komodo dragon camouflages itself on land uses its powerful legs to lunge at passing animals. If the prey is not caught in the sharp teethand powerful jaws, it will quickly die from a dragon’s bite. Komodo dragon saliva contains over fifty kinds of bacteria that, while harmless to the dragon, will kill another animal within twenty-four...