CHICAGO SUN-TIMES (Illinois) 30 March 06 New Shedd exhibit has mouth to die for (Andrew Herrmann)
The Shedd Aquarium on Wednesday showed off what could be called its most foul-mouthed creature.
The nearly 8-foot-long Komodo dragon possesses a rather unique weapon: a lethal soup of bacteria that stews among its 60 razor-sharp teeth.
If the lizard's initial bite doesn't take the life out of its prey, the bacteria very well could.
"Being reptiles, they don't have the greatest dental hygiene," said Ray Owczarzak, a senior aquarist with the Shedd. After meals, bits of food, primarily flesh, "festers and gets gross,'' he said.
"If it gives you a bite and you do get away, you're going to have a wicked infection," said Owczarzak.
The greenish gray creatures are certainly capable of killing on the spot. They mainly eat small animals -- the Shedd is feeding it a half dozen frozen rats or rabbits a week. But in the wild, they've been known to take down small deer and water buffalo. With a lightning quick leap, the dragon tackles its would-be dinner, pins it to the ground with its thick body and applies a deadly, flesh-ripping chomp.
The Shedd addition, named Faust, is on loan from the Fort Worth Zoo. Owczarzak spent several days in Texas learning how to care for the lizard before it was flown to Chicago.
No. 1 rule: Be brave, Owczarzak was told.
"If you show any apprehension, he's going to notice it -- he's going to sense your heart beating faster, your breathing rate increasing, your hands shaking," said Owczarzak. "So you have to be confident. [If not,] there's a chance he'll take advantage of it."
(In 1991, actress Sharon Stone and her then-husband were taking a private, backstage tour at the Los Angeles Zoo when a Komodo dragon, thinking the man's foot was a rat, nearly bit off his toe.)
The 120-pound Faust -- "a half pound more than me," notes Owczarzak -- was born about 13 years ago at the San Diego Zoo. The species' front name reflects the island in Indonesia where many are found naturally. The "dragon" part was the whimsy of a National Geographic reporter writing about the lizard in the 1920s.
Faust will anchor a new, extra-fee, $750,000 Shedd exhibit opening April 8 called "Lizards and the Komodo King," which will feature about two dozen cold-blooded critters. Faust occupies its own glassed-in space, with a pond and a trio of rocks that heat up to 100 degrees. The air temperature inside reaches the mid-90s.
In the wild, adult Komodo dragons typically live alone or in small hunting groups, sneaking through the vegetation for food. Younger Komodo dragons hang together in trees, in part to protect themselves from the older ones.
"The adults will actually use the youngsters as a food source,'' said Owczarzak. "They're cannibalistic."
New Shedd exhibit has mouth to die for