Komodo dragons were once thought to have super dirty teeth (2 Viewers)

[Ahsoka]

There used to be a belief that Komodo dragons had teeth with pieces of old decaying meat, causing so much bacteria to grow that by biting another animal, they gave the animal sepsis, causing it to die after the bite. In reality, their teeth have no decaying meat, and are as clean as the average carnivore. They do, however, have venomous teeth, which definitely can cause the prey to die after the bite. And their teeth are coated with iron, which isn’t that relevant but I thought it was cool so here it is

 

[Ahsoka]

General facts:
@athenaaa @Lexie @Dreamer_of_Songs @Michael @Nina @pinkmelodies @velvet @Moguri @rayhere @Harmony_Starz @Chiara @Chohee_nyang @Snailmin @Freja_Nilsdotter

 

[dark_tranquility]

those mothers are scary as
I not mess with them

 

[ChiaraStar169]

wow, interesting!

 

[Snailmin]

I LOVE LEARNING NEW THINGS!!

 

[HugeBakkaeMotae]

They are such interesting creatures, they seem almost entirely docile until they enter a frenzy (often triggered by the smell of blood) and turn into unstoppable killing machines. I saw one swallow a live goat whole. TLDR; if you're ever casually hiking around some obscure Indonesian islands be careful of thorny bushes.

Here's some photos I took:

 

[Chohee_nyang]

Iron teeth?!
Even Iron man doesn't have those

 

[TrinityJade]

Damn don't they eat their own kids too?

 

[centen]

I haven't thought of this in ages, but I do recall hearing about this as a child!

The random false facts we pick up as kids and then it's just never corrected. Not everyone is as lucky as us to have a Vikki around.

 

[Ahsoka]

Iron teeth?!
Even Iron man doesn't have those

Not solid iron, but they do have an iron coating

 

[Ahsoka]

Damn don't they eat their own kids too?

They do, definitely not a pretty part of nature

 

[Ahsoka]

I haven't thought of this in ages, but I do recall hearing about this as a child!

The random false facts we pick up as kids and then it's just never corrected. Not everyone is as lucky as us to have a Vikki around.

I believed a lot of these facts as a kid myself Those are actually the kind I’m more likely to post about because I’m like “wow, I believed this as a kid and it’s not true, I want to share this with others who may have believed it too”.

 

[Somnia]

I saw many docu's about them before, but I can't say I ever heard of the decaying meat in their teeth lore

I often only saw when they were going for prey and biting it, that droplets of their venom/saliva would trickle down their mouths. They would then stalk the prey till it would succumb. I also remember stories from the tribes of people living on the same island as the komodo dragons and their kids disappearing and being dragged from their houses/huts.

In another instance I remember a guy who was filming a small docu and had found a nest of a female komodo dragon near the beach, and he heard this loud hissing like sound and he turned around and saw the female charging at him full speed he was lucky he got away without being bitten.

I love komodo dragons because they look like real life dinosaurs and also godzilla

 

[Ahsoka]

I saw many docu's about them before, but I can't say I ever heard of the decaying meat in their teeth lore

I often only saw when they were going for prey and biting it, that droplets of their venom/saliva would trickle down their mouths. They would then stalk the prey till it would succumb. I also remember stories from the tribes of people living on the same island as the komodo dragons and their kids disappearing and being dragged from their houses/huts.

In another instance I remember a guy who was filming a small docu and had found a nest of a female komodo dragon near the beach, and he heard this loud hissing like sound and he turned around and saw the female charging at him full speed he was lucky he got away without being bitten.

I love komodo dragons because they look like real life dinosaurs and also godzilla

I guess the documentaries you saw already got the memo that it’s not real

 

[Chohee_nyang]

Not solid iron, but they do have an iron coating

That's kinda fascinating

 

[Moguri]

well in a way they got it right that their teeth are dirty, but not in the sense they believed

I had no idea they are poisonos though.... does it make themt he biggest animals with poisonos teeth??

 

[Moguri]

They are such interesting creatures, they seem almost entirely docile until they enter a frenzy (often triggered by the smell of blood) and turn into unstoppable killing machines. I saw one swallow a live goat whole. TLDR; if you're ever casually hiking around some obscure Indonesian islands be careful of thorny bushes.

Here's some photos I took:

it sounded nice until you mentioned the frenzy part

 

[Moguri]

Iron teeth?!
Even Iron man doesn't have those

he really needs to step up his game when he wants to beat Komodo Man

 

[HugeBakkaeMotae]

it sounded nice until you mentioned the frenzy part

There's actually an episode of 'The Crocodile Hunter' where Steve hangs out with them in the wild, he even lays in their nest and they don't seem to mind. Later on one of them goes into a frenzy and chases Steve up a tree and narrowly misses biting him, the teeth cut straight through the soles of Steve's work boots.

As for the poison it's actually an anti-coagulant, it doesn't kill you like a snakes poison would but it stops your wounds from closing until you bleed out. Komodo's will often bite prey much larger than themselves (like deer) and not bother chasing them, they will be attracted to the smell of rotting flesh later after the animal has bled to death and baked in the sun for a bit. Many lizards like to eat rotten meat.

The whole episode is on YouTube if anyone wants to watch it, the chase part I mentioned is right in the beginning about 4 minutes in;

 

[Moguri]

There's actually an episode of 'The Crocodile Hunter' where Steve hangs out with them in the wild, he even lays in their nest and they don't seem to mind. Later on one of them goes into a frenzy and chases Steve up a tree and narrowly misses biting him, the teeth cut straight through the soles of Steve's work boots.

As for the poison it's actually an anti-coagulant, it doesn't kill you like a snakes poison would but it stops your wounds from closing until you bleed out. Komodo's will often bite prey much larger than themselves (like deer) and not bother chasing them, they will be attracted to the smell of rotting flesh later after the animal has bled to death and baked in the sun for a bit. Many lizards like to eat rotten meat.

The whole episode is on YouTube if anyone wants to watch it, the chase part I mentioned is right in the beginning about 4 minutes in;

that all sounds super dangerous... it just makes it worse that they act peaceful and suddenly attack

Why do Lizards like eating rotten meatn though..??