Venom is key to Komodo dragon’s killing power

Far from harbouring toxic bacteria in their mouths as long believed, Komodo dragons produce venom from complex glands in their lower jaws, according to a team led by Bryan Fry of the University of Melbourne, Australia.

The study also suggests that the largest venomous creature to have ever existed was a 5.5-metre-long ancestor of the Komodo – the now extinct Megalania lizard.
Komodos, which live on three Indonesia islands, repeatedly slash at their prey until they are weak enough to eat. They can take down a 40-kilogram Rusa deer, and kill a full-grown human.

For decades, wildlife documentaries have promoted the idea that Komodo dragons owe their success as predators to toxic bacteria in their saliva – a claim bolstered by a 2002 study reporting deaths among lab mice injected with their saliva.

However, magnetic resonance imaging of a preserved Komodo head by the Fry team from the Museum of Natural History at Humboldt University in Berlin revealed an alternative explanation: huge venom glands opening to ducts at the front of the jaw.

The finding was confirmed when the team surgically removed the glands from a terminally ill Komodo at Singapore Zoo. [Read more]

New Scientist, 18 May 2009 by Rachel Nowak [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17156-venom-is-key-to-komodo-dragons-killing-power.html]