I was under the impression that the conclusion of Komodo dragons being straight-up venomous was still far from accepted.
At least, that’s the picture Wiki paints: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komodo_dragon#Venom
The keepers at London Zoo say that its the bacteria in the mouth of the Komodo Dragon which causes the illness and death - which is what I’ve heard before.
They certainly have been shown to have rather unpleasant bacteria in their saliva.
It was discussed here not so long ago.
I have always been taught that ti was the bacteria in the Dragon’s mouth that did the killing, too. But tis not only teh Smithsonian that is reporting that there is an actual venom involved, but also the National geographic, as far back as 2009
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090518-komodo-dragon-venom.html
Yea, the wiki is pretty equivocal, but it sounds like there’s toxins involved that are not bacterial. But maybe deadly spit doesn’t count as venom?
The primary undisputed poisonous lizard, the Gila Monster, basically uses poisonous spit.
I see that this guy, Bryan Fry, thinks that a fairly large number of lizards have a venomous capactiy.
The argument about venom lies in the discovery of two glands. It has not been shown that these glands are used for the purpose of envenomation. So no, the debate isn’t yet fully settled.
I wish science reporting would show the scientific counter-arguments more, rather than simply stating as fact the generally accepted theory.
The video is designed to show direct opposition to what was previously believed. Previously, it was believed that dragons infected their prey, and then would follow weakened animals until they dropped from septicemia.
The same scientist in the clip here (Bryan Fry) is the one who discovered the combination of the hemotoxin and serrated teeth as a method for killing back in 2009. (He found the glands.) There is no question they express venom, the only thing missing was capturing images of them killing via envenomation in the wild.
The Quests visit an old colleague, an esteemed biologist who now turns out to be an insane breeder of vicious monster lizards.
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