>just a scratch from a bite from a Komodo can be deadly That's incorrect. >In 1969, Walter Auffenberg came along and made his detailed study of Komodo dragon

>just a scratch from a bite from a Komodo can be deadly That's incorrect. >In 1969, Walter Auffenberg came along and made his detailed study of Komodo dragon behaviour. He made two critical observations: >1) Komodo dragons can kill large prey, occasionally even buffalo, outright. >2) buffalo that escape a Komodo dragon attack often die of infection. >Auffenberg, based on the second observation, hypothesized that the dragon had septic saliva and used it to kill large prey slowly over days or weeks, even though his own published field observations contradicted this. The public caught wind of this idea, and the myth of the Komodo dragon as a slow killer with a virulent bacterial brew was born. >Then, in the 21st century, Dr. Bryan Fry discovered the presence of modified salivary glands in the dragon's lower jaw. The compound produced by these glands proved to be a potent anticoagulant. >Dr. Fry believed that this substance was venom, since many types of snake venom also cause uncontrollable bleeding. He also recognized that Komodo dragons kill prey quickly rather than over a long time, since he actually observed these animals hunting. Unfortunately, the press totally missed that last bit, so the myth lived on in modified form, with venom replacing bacteria. >The original venom hypothesis has come under fire recently (Hargreaves et al, 2015), and many scientists now believe the anticoagulant is a digestive enzyme. There are many reasons to indicate that venom doesn't play a role when killing prey, which certainly fits with the observations of Komodo dragons killing prey violently and swiftly. >In 2013, another study revealed that there was no septic bacteria in the Komodo dragon's maw. In fact, it has a cleaner mouth than most mammals due to constantly replacing its teeth, leaving no chance for trapped food to rot and fester before they fall out along with the dentition. >It is a fact that Komodo dragons do not wait for prey to die, even though this myth is still being presented as true by pop culture. What really happens in these cases is something else entirely: prey escapes, gets infected, dies, and is eaten by a dragon (possibly the same one if it happens to be nearby). There is never any intent by the dragon to kill its prey in this way. They try to kill quickly, in some cases even near-instantaneously, and usually in just a few minutes. [0] https://imgur.com/gallery/RUeB9 https://imgur.com/gallery/RUeB9 [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/news/comments/b8joz9/komodo_island_is_reportedly_closing_until_2020/ejyd1uu/ https://old.reddit.com/r/news/comments/b8joz9/komodo_island_...