Komodo Dragon

This may come as a surprise to you, given the last few days, but we didn't go to Austria only as a musical pilgrimage. I was looking at the pictures of our trip and we saw many other things. In Vienna, I was dragged at the Haus de Meeres (their aquarium) and I managed to fulfill an old childhood dream: see a real Komodo dragons, in the flesh. You may remember from this post from 2023 that I had a fascination for them. Well, I can tick that off my bucket list. Although I am looking forward to the next time I see these scary critters. Famous last words, I know.

Where to find Komodo Dragons

 You may remember from this post that I have a certain interest for Komodo dragons.I find these big, venomous lizards fascinating. Well, I learned to my surprise that you can find them in capativity here in England and not too far from where we live. A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook pictures he took from his visit to Crocodiles Of The World, a zoo specialised in, well, big lizards. And lo and behold, among them was a picture of a Komodo dragon. In fact, they have a whole Komodo Dragon Experience. I just can't believe it. Not on our doorstep, but pretty close. Real Komodo dragons. We might not plan our visit very soon, our next weekends will be pretty busy, but it is good to know that we have another zoo to go and thatit would be a completely new experience. With Komodo dragons. I still cannot believe it.

Komodo Dragons

I recently found on BBC iPlayer an old documentary series, in black and white, with David Attenborough. When I say old, it dated back from 1956. A piece of anthology. I only watched one episode, the one about Komodo dragons. When I was a child, my brother PJ had a book about dragons in general, and the Komodo dragon was mentioned in passing. It got me fascinated. The idea of a gigantic lizard with a venomour bite living in a remote part of the world seemed both thrilling and exotic. Like a mythical creature that turned out to be real. Seeing Komodo dragons in a black and white video, they seemed even more mysterious and strange. It reminded me of my old childhood fascination for them.

Attack of the Komodo dragon

Yesterday, I was blogging about James Bond. Today, I read a piece of news that reminded me of a scene in Skyfall: a 83 years old woman was attacked by a Komodo dragon. And she survived. In Skyfall, I thought the scene when the Komodo dragon attacks the badguy was a bit far-fetched: until recently, well until I read the story today, I thought they were basically bigger, scarier iguanas. One can get things wrong. In fact, Komodo dragons may not be as famous as crocodiles or alligators, but they are nasty hunters capable of aggressive behavior towards humans. They are pretty much carnivorous dinosaurs walking on earth. As a child, my brothers had some interest in them, we even thought that there were some Komodo dragons living in the wild not too far from home. This is a story I might tell in another blog post. Until then, what I read about them today renewed my interest in the reptile.