Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Tonight on cable I saw the most incredible footage of a young woman (35-40) interacting with a large group of HUGE komodo dragons. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen on tv and I was wondering if anyone else saw it. As I watched her stroking and feeding and hugging these massive dragons I was reminded of certain related Alligator issues. To date the komodo dragons have been considered as unapproachable and completely dangerous and unpredictable, even by me as I trusted what I had read and saw on tv up to this point. But this woman was walking amongst these tremendous lizards and feeding them and interacting with them as if they were a bunch of pet dogs. They would take turns drinking water out of her sports bottle. And this was in the wild with wild, fully grown adult dragons, not some little specimen in a "controlled" zoo environment. It was nothing short of amazing to me and very enlightening. It was brief but was certainly a glimpse into the intelligence and awareness of these remarkable animals. I hope this footage and what this woman was doing makes it into mainstream reptile related programming and that more research and attention is devoted to these great lizards and their potential to be around humans without resorting to predation.

Amazing amazing stuff.
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Believe in yourself and your abilities and you can accomplish anything.

Sorry to burst your bubble...

Steve Irwin (even though I'm sure many here think he's a quack), already spent some time with the komodos.

He didn't give them water from a water bottle, but he was surrounded by them and let them approach his feet (while lying flat on the ground). Two were even fighting right beside him...

NEwayz, I agree they're not as instinctual as people say they are. I'm sure everyone's opinion of them will change over time. Much as is happening with crocodilians as they keep getting more "exposure" on TV with real info.

Mr. F

btw, piranhas have much the same false image. I've been swimming in the amazon without a problem, then fished for piranhas on the same section of the river.

I also saw Steve Irwin with them. I was quite impressed but what Brian is talking about seems like the women may have taken it to another level(giving them water and feeding them). However, both instances are very awesome and indeed amazing

I somehow missed that croc hunter episode. I have always admired what Irwin does, even though I feel he takes unnecessary chances waaay too often. Though I recognize that he "know's what he's doing", slip ups occur. I just hope that the majority of the supposedly "wild" deadly snakes are in fact "stand in" venomoids.

Thanks for the compliment here. I was incredibly impressed with what the woman in the footage was doing. Unlike what the other poster said I never implied that the komodos wanted to be her friend (lol) but it certainly appeared that they could differenciate between her, and the MEAT she was handing them. That was just imcredible as I would expect them (from my limited knowledge gained by books and tv) to go into a feeding frenzy and blindly bite and rip at anything remotely meaty.

Man,.. I want one more than ever, lol.

>>I also saw Steve Irwin with them. I was quite impressed but what Brian is talking about seems like the women may have taken it to another level(giving them water and feeding them). However, both instances are very awesome and indeed amazing
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Believe in yourself and your abilities and you can accomplish anything.

Hmmm, I've seen a few people do this on various shows, including Mr.Irwin on one of his episodes. I don't think Komodos have been considered unapproachable by those who have worked with them. Often quite the opposite, as the apex predator they have little to fear from anything they typically encounter and no natural fear of man. All the shows I've seen have folks getting close to them.

To make leaps that they did not eat her and hence they are smart and wanted to be her friend is not something I see readily from these examples.

They only, I assume, 'resort' to predation when they are hungry.

It is fun to watch however, so long as folks do not make dangerous assumptions about potentially deadly animals.

I'd be interested to hear a fellow like Trooper Walsh give his take on those goings on. He might share some insight as what is shared on those shows is often NOT what actually appears to be happening.

CD

The ones that I've know were fairly tame, but had a *very* strong feeding response.

On Komodo Island there is a large population of "wild" komodos that have become very "accustomed" to human presence and will not acknowledge your presence any more than a captive komodo.
These lizards are far more intelligent than people think. Much like Crocodilians they are easily "trained" to a routine and voice commands. Ours is able to differentiate the difference between the Primary and Secondary keepers difference in the same general routine.
My *guess* would be that those animals were probably from that National Park and that it was much less of a unique thing than they let on....
However with my experiences with this species, I believe them to be far too intelligent to trust to any great length. Intelligence is one thing but instinct is another. Now combine the two and much like Crocodilians that can make for very interesting interactions both in the wild and captivity.
Best Regards,
Terry
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It's what you learn AFTER you know it all that counts!

Terry

Good post man. Good post.

>>On Komodo Island there is a large population of "wild" komodos that have become very "accustomed" to human presence and will not acknowledge your presence any more than a captive komodo.
>>These lizards are far more intelligent than people think. Much like Crocodilians they are easily "trained" to a routine and voice commands. Ours is able to differentiate the difference between the Primary and Secondary keepers difference in the same general routine.
>>My *guess* would be that those animals were probably from that National Park and that it was much less of a unique thing than they let on....
>>However with my experiences with this species, I believe them to be far too intelligent to trust to any great length. Intelligence is one thing but instinct is another. Now combine the two and much like Crocodilians that can make for very interesting interactions both in the wild and captivity.
>>Best Regards,
>>Terry
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>>It's what you learn AFTER you know it all that counts!
>>
>>Terry
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Believe in yourself and your abilities and you can accomplish anything.

I have actually seen what you were talking about, the Discovery Channel has replayed it many times.

It does remind me of the man and his girlfriend in Alaska who were seen as "breaking throught the divide between man and animal" when they would walk within feet of feeding and fighting bears but said they would never be harmed because they "communicate through unspoken means with the bears that they are not any threat". The pair of them were seen as revolutionary and ambassadors for the wild kingdom. Why was is not until they were eatten in their tent a few months ago did people start to question their "research" methods and start to wonder if they weren't actually researches but quasi-documentary film makers.

Chances are the woman who feeds the komodo dragons falls into the same catagory.