1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:13,200 Speaker 1: Lauren bobobam here. The world thought Komodo dragons were mythological 3 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: until about nineteen eleven. During World War One, a plane 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,120 Speaker 1: crashed near Komodo Island and the pilots survived to tell 5 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:24,319 Speaker 1: the world about the animal. He was very lucky to 6 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:28,320 Speaker 1: tell the tale. Komodo dragons live up to their fierce reputation. 7 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:33,240 Speaker 1: They will attack and devour a human being unprovoked, and 8 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:35,640 Speaker 1: they're part of a group of lizards known as monitors. 9 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: And they're the biggest lizards in the world. The largest 10 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: kimodo ever measured was more than ten feet long that's 11 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,960 Speaker 1: three meters, and weighed three hundred and sixty six pounds 12 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:48,639 Speaker 1: that's about one hundred and sixty six kilos. To get 13 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,000 Speaker 1: a feel for how powerful this creature is, consider that 14 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: when a kimoto weighing just one hundred and twenty pounds 15 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: or fifty five kilos in the London Zoo needs a 16 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 1: blood test, it takes two people to hold down its tail. 17 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:06,040 Speaker 1: Compared to the largest on record, the average kimodo is 18 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,960 Speaker 1: about eighty percent of the length but only two thirds 19 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,560 Speaker 1: of the weight. Many scientists think the record animal may 20 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: have eaten a big meal just before weighing in. A 21 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,559 Speaker 1: kimodo can consume about eighty percent of its body weight 22 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:21,840 Speaker 1: in just twenty minutes. It can swallow huge pieces at 23 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:24,760 Speaker 1: a time because its skull and jaw are flexible like 24 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: a Snake's Komodo prey includes chicken, wild boar, deer, goats, 25 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 1: and animals as big as water buffalo. The komodo is 26 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:36,760 Speaker 1: the only known lizard that will attack prey bigger than itself, 27 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 1: and about one tenth of the komodo diet is other 28 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:45,400 Speaker 1: komodo dragons. There aren't many animals that can survive a 29 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: komodo attack. A human and another kimodo are pretty much 30 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:53,960 Speaker 1: the only ones. This endangered animal, down to fewer than 31 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: three thousand in the wild, is at the top of 32 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: the food chain in its habitat. Okay, What is it 33 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 1: that makes this lizard such a good predator? Kamodo dragon's 34 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,959 Speaker 1: adult teeth are highly specialized. They're curved into a shape 35 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: like a comma, with a sharp serrated edge along the 36 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: entire curve of the tooth and extra deep ridges on 37 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: the inner curve that's the cutting edge. The lizards use 38 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 1: a puncture pull motion to tear into prey. The enamel 39 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: on their teeth is relatively thin, but that serrated edge 40 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:31,160 Speaker 1: has a serious advantage. It's tipped in an iron infused 41 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:34,640 Speaker 1: coating that strengthens each tooth and keeps it sharp and 42 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: turns it a little bit of a rusty orange. They 43 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: have some sixty teeth in total, each about half an 44 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,640 Speaker 1: inch or a centimeter long, and like other reptiles and 45 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: therapod dinosaurs for that matter, they continually grow replacement teeth 46 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: in case one breaks or wears down. They have up 47 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,120 Speaker 1: to five replacements for each tooth growing at any given time, 48 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: and will start to grow a new one every forty days. 49 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 1: That's faster tooth replacement than ever any known reptile or dinosaur. 50 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:06,680 Speaker 1: The real brilliance in the Kmodo system, though, lies in 51 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: the guarantee of a meal. Their byte strength is a 52 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 1: bit weak compared with other large reptilian predators, and its 53 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: attack doesn't usually kill its prey out right, But a 54 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,799 Speaker 1: bitten animal will almost always die within a few hours 55 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: or at most a few days. The komodo can wait patiently, 56 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: following it for miles in a leisurely fashion, and then 57 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:32,359 Speaker 1: locate the dead animal by its smell. Like most lizards 58 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: and snakes, a komodo dragons have a very good sense 59 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 1: of smell, but it's not the kind of smell most 60 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: of us are familiar with. Like a snake, a kimodo 61 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: smells by collecting air with its forked tongue and then 62 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: depositing that air on scent receptors on the roof of 63 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: its mouth. Using this method, it can detect a dead 64 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,520 Speaker 1: animal up to about five miles away that's eight kilometers. 65 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 1: Why exactly an animal usually dies after the fact has 66 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,240 Speaker 1: been a object of some debate. Until the past decade 67 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: or so, scientists thought that it was a komodo dragon's 68 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: oral bacteria that killed its prey within days after an attack. 69 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,840 Speaker 1: It's a decent explanation. A bite wounds from all kinds 70 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,680 Speaker 1: of animals, including humans, can transfer bacteria into the bloodstream, 71 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 1: causing infection, sepsis, and organ shut down throughout the body. 72 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:27,480 Speaker 1: It was also traditionally thought that most reptiles don't produce venom. 73 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: Venom is a toxin that's secreted by special glands and 74 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:35,120 Speaker 1: injected into an animal by a bite or sting. We 75 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: knew that lots of snakes are venomous, but only two lizards, 76 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,360 Speaker 1: the Gila monster and the Mexican bearded lizard, were known 77 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:45,479 Speaker 1: to harry venom, but beginning in the two thousands, research 78 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:50,520 Speaker 1: has proven otherwise. In two thousand and five, scientists concluded 79 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: the komodo dragons and actually all monitor lizards as well 80 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:59,000 Speaker 1: as iguanas, produce venom. The researchers started looking specifically for 81 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 1: venom in komodo because they believed it was unlikely that 82 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:04,919 Speaker 1: a bacterial infection could kill an animal in as little 83 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: as a day or two. They found venom in komodo saliva. 84 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: In two thousand and nine, further research involving magnetic resonance 85 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:16,479 Speaker 1: imaging of a preserved Kmodo dragon head discovered a venom 86 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: gland and ducks with openings between those sharp teeth. The 87 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: researchers noted compounds in the venom that induced muscle cramping, hypothermia, 88 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,920 Speaker 1: and low blood pressure, a dangerous combination, especially since the 89 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:36,679 Speaker 1: venom also contains anticoagulants. Basically, without serious intervention, most animals 90 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: bitten by a komodo will go into shock and bleed out. 91 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:43,960 Speaker 1: It's not as potent as a cobra venom, which can 92 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:48,840 Speaker 1: kill in minutes but still undeniably fatal. In the case 93 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 1: of large animals like water buffalo, for which the amount 94 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 1: of venom transferred during a couple of bytes might not 95 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: matter much. The komodo dragon's aforementioned mouth bacteria might help 96 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 1: finish the prey off. The deepness of the bites might 97 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:07,720 Speaker 1: allow environmental bacteria to enter the wounds. Because kmodo dragons 98 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 1: don't get sick from the bacteria in their own mouths, 99 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 1: it's thought the components of their blood might have applications 100 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,599 Speaker 1: in medical research. Back in twenty seventeen, a team of 101 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 1: researchers found a promising peptide in komodo blood and used 102 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: it as inspiration to create a synthetic peptide that's antibacterial. 103 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: It both weakens bacteria membranes, making them less able to survive, 104 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: and it prevents them from forming up into tough biofilms, 105 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:39,360 Speaker 1: which could help us fight antibiotic resistant diseases. And compounds 106 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: found in various venoms have been used to create treatments 107 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:46,840 Speaker 1: for everything from high blood pressure to diabetes. Here's hoping 108 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:50,839 Speaker 1: that this and other research and komodo dragons fascinating adaptations 109 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: might lead to lots of real world applications. Today's episode 110 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: is based on the article Arkmoto Dragon's mouths Deadlier than 111 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:05,839 Speaker 1: Cobra's venom on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Julia Layton. 112 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in partnership with 113 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: how stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler klang A. 114 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:14,840 Speaker 1: Four more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 115 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.