WEBVTT - Those Crazy Komodos 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.760 Welcome to stuff from the Science Lab from how stuff 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:15.840 works dot com. Hey, this is Alison I don't know, 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:18.000 like the science and how stuff works dot com. And 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:20.079 this is Robert Lamb, science writer at how stuff works 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:22.840 dot com. So, Alison, you've got a dog, right, do 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:24.919 you have a dog? Yeah? I have. I have a 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:28.040 cat myself, And I think one thing that these two 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:32.720 species sharing and in common is the ability to vomit, 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:37.120 like on a daily basis, And not now the the ability, 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:41.120 but just the willingness and sheer desire to vomit. Yeah, 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:42.560 it does seem like I spent a lot of my 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:45.320 life these days cleaning up accidents, either of the pet 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:48.200 or children variety. The thing that gets to me about 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:52.200 the cat is that she will only vomit on things 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:54.760 like carpet or like we have hardwoods and then we 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:57.280 have like some areas of carpet, and like she will 0:00:57.480 --> 0:00:59.440 you'll hear like vomiting. I would be in the night 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.760 and I'll hear of her warming up to the vomit, 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:04.200 and I'll and I'll wake up. I could be in 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:06.040 like a deep dream state and I'll wake up and 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:07.520 I'll be all right. She's in the house, she's about 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:09.160 to vomit. So I go and find her, and she'll 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:11.280 be on this little rug right about the up shut 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:12.560 And I take her off, and I set her on 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:15.080 the hardwoods, because at least she vomits on the hard woods. 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:17.440 Clean up, easy to clean up. Set her on the hardwood, 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:19.880 and she scampers over to another carpet, like she can 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:22.040 only throw up on a carpet. It is true, they 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:26.039 do display a remarkable propensity for display for for puking 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:28.520 on carpet. Why is that there are dogs the same way? Yeah, 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:31.040 they are. They love to to throw up on a carpet. 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:35.520 But the point of this barthring anecdote is that mixed 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:37.679 both of us pretty glad that we don't have Commodo dragons, 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:42.320 because you know, cat throp dog throp is nothing compared 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:44.520 to what you might see, uh, come out of a 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.520 Komodo dragon after it eights a a goat. Yeah. And 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:49.720 if you're wondering how this looks like, do a YouTube 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.800 search for Komodo dragon and vomit and you'll get to 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:56.880 see a lovely video set to some really really interesting 0:01:56.960 --> 0:02:02.360 musical choice vomiting up a part fully digested goat leg. So, 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.280 now that we've thoroughly upset your stomach. Let's tell you 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:08.239 why we're talking about Commodo dragons. Robert and I over 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:10.600 at has to First dot Com have been immersed in 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:14.040 um writing content for this upcoming really neat series that's 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:16.799 going to premiere on the Discovery Channel called Life. You 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.400 watch Planet Earth and this is this is the same 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:24.119 bunch of people, the same just completely addictive thing, beautiful 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.880 footage of just some of the amazing tidbits from our 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:30.679 natural world. Right it's a planet Earth was habitat focused, 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:34.480 and Life will be focused on the amazing species populating 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:39.040 our planet and their remarkable behaviors. And in one of 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:42.400 the episodes on reptiles and amphibians, the komodo dragon is 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:46.040 prominently featured. Yeah, and Robert and I were very very 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:48.000 impressed by the Commodo dragons because you see them in 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:51.080 the zoo and you know they're not doing much. Maybe 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:54.160 they're fed of frozen rat or something. They're kind of lethargic, 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:57.240 as they tend to be cold blooded. They're not exerting 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.520 any more energy than they need to. And let me 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:01.320 point out, at least they have the excuse of being 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:03.640 cold blooded. On like the panda which just sits there, 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.720 warm blooded, not doing anything and gets all the attention. 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:09.760 That's a separate tangent. But anyway, so we really wanted 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:11.919 to do a podcast on those crazy Komodos that we've 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:14.440 been writing about. And just for those of you're interested, 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.760 the series is going to premiere in March. Unless you 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:19.600 know of your British you've already seen it. So let's 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:22.240 give you a greick introduction to the Komodo dragon. The 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:24.800 komodo is about nine feet long. It lives over on 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.639 unlimited range of islands in Indonesia, one of which is 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:31.280 Komodo Island, and it's the most intelligent and the largest 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:34.760 lizard in the world. Yeah, and this, uh, this is 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:37.520 a top predator we're talking about here. The only thing 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:41.280 that eats Komodo dragons, it's other commodo dragons. I mean, 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:43.640 unless you're going into some pretty strange restaurants, you're not 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.560 going to find it on the menu. Um. And when 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:48.800 I say they eat other Komodo dragons, like like a 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:50.840 lot of species, they'll eat their their own if they 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.840 happen to be wounded or weak or dead. Uh, the 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:57.080 Komodo dragon is really big commodo dragon will eat fresh food, 0:03:57.440 --> 0:03:59.440 it'll it'll kill something an idiot. But if it's something's 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:01.200 been setting around on it's a little rotten, you know. 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:04.320 The commodo dragons not gonna I'm not gonna pass that up. 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:06.840 So yeah, it'll eat up. It'll eat one of its 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:08.920 its own of its rotting on the side of the path. 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.080 But they're also quite fond of their own young. A 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:14.840 female kommoto dragon will lay the eggs in a burrow 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:18.400 and then just leave them. Komodos dragons have no further 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:20.359 role in the raising of the young, so it's not 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:25.000 practicing touchment parenting right now. If there's definitely mammal they 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:29.039 want to practice like ingestion parenting because if they find 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:32.400 any of the smaller like a hatchling komotos, they will 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:36.280 eat them up. So well, how does the hatchling prevent this? Well, 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:38.800 they have to two methods. One method is to pretty 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.560 much live in the trees, and the kimotos can climb 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:43.920 trees when they really want to, but these guys will 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:45.680 stay up in the higher branches and just stay out 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:49.200 of side. The other tactic is of course to roll 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.720 themselves in fecal matter, because it's like the Kommoto dragon 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.239 will eat just about anything, but it's not that big 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:59.040 on eating things that are that are you know, covered 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:03.719 in app More on that later. Um, it's a great podcast. 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:06.640 You get your vomit and your crab content on one. 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:08.840 So yeah, in terms of other things they'll eat, though, 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:13.039 they'll they'll take down at um, things like like deer, 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:16.159 they'll take down you know, rats or whatever, you know, 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:20.520 smaller animals. But then they'll even take down water buffalo occasionally. 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:25.000 And we're gonna get more into the hunting technique bees 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:27.200 in a minute, because it just just like takes weeks 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:29.400 while they wait for the thing to die, and then 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.040 when it's time to eat it, they just throw themselves 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:34.279 at it, the big ones. Anyway, you end up having 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:37.200 this kind of like circle of feeding with the komodos. Yeah, 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:39.599 it's communal, but it's not really generous per se. No, No, 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.360 it's not. It's not like a Thanksgiving dinner or not 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:45.880 like my Thanksgiving dinners. Some families probably do it differently. 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:49.080 It would be like if your Thanksgiving dinner consists of 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.640 like your three largest uncles rolling around in a carcass 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:56.480 and throwing elbows and then like the smaller members of 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:59.760 the family are on the grandma oscar. Yeah, Grandma's an outscars, 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:02.159 just trying to like reach in and grasp a chicken leg. 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:03.960 And then all the little kids are just out in 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:07.200 the bushes hoping that there are other family members. Don't 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:10.400 eat them while they're waiting for scraps. That's pretty much 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:14.640 what you have. And they will eat pretty much everything. 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:17.839 These guys clean their plates. Researchers have observed them eating 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:20.440 uppers of eight percent of their own body weight. Like 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:24.320 when they're through, they're just completely like dragging gut back 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:28.919 to their burrows there. It's just amazing. These guys have recliners. 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:30.560 Would be billing up for hours in front of the the 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:33.120 TV after Yeah, and and it's in the things they 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:36.120 can't necessarily digest everything. They can digest a lot, but 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:40.000 like say they eat some hide, some bone, some antlers 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:42.760 or something, they can't digest that. So a little later 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:46.600 they just vomited all up. And this uh, just disgusting 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:50.640 smelling ball known as a gastric pellet. Yeah, but it 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:52.440 doesn't really look like a pellet. It more looks like 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:56.600 a like a basketball made of half digested goat. There 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:58.359 are some animals out there that aren't big on eating 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:01.880 the actual guts of an animal. Um. The komodo will. 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:03.880 But like we said earlier, that the little ones roll 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:05.960 around in the crap so that they won't get eaten. 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:09.159 So the komodo before it will eat the intestines, it 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:12.840 will take them in its mouth and sling them around. Yeah, 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:16.080 so that all the fecal matter goes flying out into 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:19.679 the forest. And then once it's nice and clean, they'll 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:24.120 they'll eat the guts as well. They'll partake of the intestineous. 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:28.760 They are ravenous and vile creatures, but we still love 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:32.040 them amazingly cool too. So let's talk about some of 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:35.120 their hunting techniques. I mean, how would a komodo dragon 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:38.600 take down a water buffalo? So a live one, because 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:40.960 like we said, they'll eat the dead one, but a 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:43.560 live water buffalo is a different proposition. Well, part of 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:45.360 it is ambush. I mean really, all they need to 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.040 do is they need to sit around and wait for 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:50.960 some great ambling beasts to come by, and they need 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:52.720 to land one good bye. And why do they need 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:55.320 to land one good bite? Well because they have venom 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:58.840 and their mouths are really just this crazy cottail of 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:03.400 bacteria and venom. So even if the bite doesn't kill 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:07.520 the animal instantly, the venom and the bacteria will do 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:10.200 their work and the animal, no matter how big, will 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:13.160 likely die. I think it takes a goat sized animal 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:16.640 about four days. Um. The buffalo took took much longer 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:18.800 than that. But again, you can watch this in life. 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:21.880 It's really an amazing scene. It's a mouthful of just 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:25.160 serrated peece too, so it's a pretty nasty bite anyway, 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:27.520 even if it's like a mouthful steak knives or something 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:31.760 dirty nasty snake knives. Yeah, And some of the toxins 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:34.480 in there, one of them causes intestinal cramps and it 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:37.240 makes the animal, the prey, more sensitive to pain. And 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:39.959 then you have another toxin in there that causes hypothermia. 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:43.680 And then of course, as if that weren't enough, um, 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:47.160 other toxins will make the animal just bleed like crazy, 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:50.520 and from the outside like the prey looks stunned and 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:52.959 which is kind of quiet. Yeah. One of the interesting 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:56.000 things about the like the water buffalo that they study 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:59.240 in life is that they actually observed the wound healing up, 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:04.720 but the but the venom was doing its work inside 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:08.559 the animal. So so beside the venom, we have stuff 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.439 like the tongue. Um. So if you're not hanging out 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:13.240 at a watering hole with a great big water buffle, 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:15.720 you have to find your prey right well, the tongue 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:20.960 is actually the komotives smelling mechanism, So kind of get 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:24.040 in your head this picture of a lizard flicking its 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.719 tongue out. So what it's doing with its tongue is 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.240 it's flicking out and it's catching air molecules and then 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:32.680 it's scraping them on the inside of its mouth and 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:36.600 it's analyzing them essentially, and the fork tongue is giving 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:40.280 you directions for example, like if the tongue's left fork 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:43.360 has more scent molecules, then the dragon knows you're hiding 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:45.600 on the left, and so it's just constantly flicking its 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:48.120 tongue back and forth to follow its prey. It's kind 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:50.679 of like smells in three D. Yeah, it's a it's 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.800 a funky tongue. And then of course we have the teeth. 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:56.120 You know, once you once you get in close to 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:58.800 the to the prey, if then you can land that bite. 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:00.920 But their their teeth are and jaws are really not 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.280 that impressive. I mean, they have the steak news and everything, 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.280 but the bite itself is I think similar to a 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:10.080 cat's strength. It's it's not very it's not very strong. 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.160 What really is the secret weapon is the vatam. So 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:16.520 once the Commodo dragon eats its prey and I mean 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:19.320 eating kind of loosely because it doesn't choose before swallowing, 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:23.640 it just kind of ingest cole like a snake, it 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:25.920 can unhinge its jaws and it can open them to 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:28.600 swallow these just like ginormous chunks of meat that are 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:31.600 larger than their heads. Yeah, it's like Poko to Chow 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:35.120 or any of those big steak chains, you know, right, So, 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:36.800 can you picture yourself going to one of these, like 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:40.920 Brazilian meat places and unhinging your jaw because, like, you know, 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.200 imbibing whole this giant steak. Yeah, that's kind of what 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:46.719 the commoted is. Generally one table of Commodo dragons, and 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:51.280 most major steak restaurants like that don't sit next to them. 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:55.160 Once it ingests this huge mass of meat, it travels 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:58.360 undigested to the stomach, and the stomach you know, stretches 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.280 as it as its needs to do, and there's a 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:04.800 very powerful stomach acid there which can dissolve a lot 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:07.880 of those crazy parts at the Komodo just state, but 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:11.200 not everything, as Robert has thoughtfully pointed out, tell me 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:13.160 about the people who are shipwrecked on the on the 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:15.880 island with Commodo dragons. Yeah, so there's a news story 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:19.040 of ways back about some divers who were left stranded 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:22.600 on a diving expedition. They swam to shore and who 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:25.640 they're so excited they finally made land, and um, they 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:27.800 had to wait for a rescue. I guess somebody. I 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:30.080 don't I don't know how they got said rescue, but 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:32.160 they got onto this island, and the island happened to 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:35.680 be populated by Komodo dragons, and the Komodo dragons, of 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:38.840 course have this very keen sense of smell, and they 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:41.480 were able to spot the divers. And so for the 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:43.720 next few days, while the divers waited for a rescue, 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:46.800 they had to fight off Komodo dragons by like screaming 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:49.679 at them and throwing rocks at them. So can you imagine, 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:52.760 I mean, you finally swim to shore, you know, you're 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:57.000 on tropical islands kind of like lost. Yeah, perhaps except 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.559 the shorter duration. If you're on the island of the 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:02.280 Komodo Us and eventually you get saved, but not before 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.840 having to fight off committed dragons. They're not above taking 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:08.600 on human prey, especially if if you're wounded and they're 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:11.640 protected species. So you get shipwrecked on an island full 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:14.000 of komotos, you can't very well just go around braining 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:16.000 them in the head with rocks and frying them up yourself, 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:19.080 and good luck competing with them, right, So did you 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:23.080 interview the guy, Yeah, you interviewed one of the uh, 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:26.920 the cameraman on that particular shoot, and it really really 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:31.559 really fascinating story, just the filming of it because they 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:34.480 had to just they had to march miles to this site, 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:38.040 to this watering hole every day. They couldn't actually spend 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:40.280 the night out there because it was too dangerous. Um 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:43.560 you know, they had to stay at this camp. So 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:45.480 they're lugging all this equipment out and then they ended 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:47.679 up just having to wait for this to happen, wait 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:50.640 for these komotos too, because the water buffalo is is 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:54.000 a pretty dangerous prey. It can trample the dragon, it 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:58.480 can can Yeah, So, like I said, they're opportunists. So 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:00.960 it's like it's a matter of one of these dragons 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:04.840 getting cocky enough and hungry enough to dare to take 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:07.720 that bite, and then it's weeks of waiting for the 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:09.439 thing to die. And so they had to sit there 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:11.760 and wait for the water buffalo to die and and 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:13.520 trail it all over the island. Yeah, and they end 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:15.800 up getting really attached. I mean maybe not attached, but 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:18.400 you know, if you're watching like a pack of you know, 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:21.959 eight komotos um, you know, waiting to devour a water 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:26.080 buffalo basically devour it alive, you know, who are you 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:30.240 gonna sympathize with? Not the dragon really so um. So 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:32.120 there was a whole emotional side to that. And then 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:35.920 just just being around like too dangerous creatures because water 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.959 buffalo gets stooked, it can run you over. Uh. And 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:41.440 the komodos, like I said, they're not opposed to taking 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:43.960 a bite out of a human if the opportunity presents itself. 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:46.600 Did the staff have any close calls. Yeah, yeah, they did. Well, 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:49.040 they had some some local guides that came along with 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.680 him with sticks. Uh. We just kind of like push 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:53.120 them out of the way if they got too close 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:55.360 to the camera. But there was one scene he was 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:58.840 telling me about where, um, this was early in the chase. 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:00.679 I guess the water buffalo sor hat a fair amount 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:02.560 of energy and the water buffalo was moving through the 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:07.040 forest and the komodos we're chasing after it. So the cameraman, 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:09.079 the life camera crew, they just said, hey, let's we're 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:11.600 gonna flank this this this buffalo, get ahead of it, 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:14.439 film it coming towards us, and then we'll film the 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.280 komodos following it. And I think it was like like 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:21.240 there were five komodos trailing the water buffalo at that time. 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:23.160 So he gets ahead and they booth get ahead, they 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:26.240 set up the camera and they only see four komodo 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:29.440 dragons and yeah, yeah, and then one of the dudes 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:31.400 it's like like, hey, they're just four. And then another 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:33.960 guy goes goes, hey, you know behind you look, it 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:36.800 turns around and there's a komodo coming right behind him. 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:39.120 Like the komodo had the same plan as the cameraman 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:43.080 to flank the prey and you know, one bite from 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:45.960 those guys and uh, you know it's not a pretty picture. Yeah, 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:47.440 so you guys are gonna have to check out Life 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:49.760 when It comes out, because it's a pretty amazing series. 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:52.600 Might even make you want to get a pet Komodo. 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.240 I don't know. I think on that one you'll look 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:57.720 pretty awesome being the only person in your neighborhood with 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:01.360 a Komodo on a chain. Yeah, definitely. So if you 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:03.120 have any thoughts about commotives or just want to send 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:05.560 us an email, you know where to find us signed 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:07.880 stuff at how stuff works dot com, or brush up 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:09.840 on commotive at um over at the site, or come 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:12.400 check out the blogs. We're gonna be blogging quite a 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:15.600 bit about Life when It Starts, aaring and uh, as 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:18.480 well as any other interesting scientific kidbit that comes our way. 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:28.240 All right, thanks for listening, guys. For more on this 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:30.920 and thousands of other topics, is it how stuff works 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:34.360 dot com. Want more how stuff works, check out our 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:56.680 blogs on the house stuff works dot com home page.