Study: Komodo dragons' bite wimpy but deadly

BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Komodo dragons, the worlds largest lizard, are living proof you don't need a mouth the size of a Tyrannosaurus Rex to bring down, kill and eat a water buffalo.

A new study reveals that a few dozen razor-sharp teeth combined with beefy neck muscles make up for the reptile's lack of jaw power.

"The Komodo has a featherweight, space-frame skull and bites like a wimp, but a combination of very clever engineering and wickedly sharp teeth allow it to do serious damage," said Stephen Wroe, a biologist at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

Wroe and his colleague Karen Moreno detail their findings about Komodo dragons, a type of monitor lizard found in central Indonesia that can grow nearly 10 feet (3 meters) in length and weigh 154 pounds (70 kilograms), in a recent issue of the Journal of Anatomy.

To investigate the mystery of how the Komodo dragon can attack with deadly force without powerful jaw muscles and a thick skull, Wroe and Moreno built a model of its head and throat with software normally used to analyze minute forces in vehicles. The jaw may be weak, but 100 million years of evolution have given the dragon ¢w the largest living species of lizard ¢w other tools to succeed.

"The Komodo displays a unique hold-and-pull feeding technique," Wroe said. "Its delicate skull differs greatly from most living terrestrial large prey specialists, but it's a precision instrument."

He explained the lizard latches on to nab prey with a mouth full of 60 teeth, although its bite is weak. To make up for the lack of biting power, strong throat muscles drag the animal through the razor-sharp maw and into the stomach.

Wroe said the eating action removes dangerous stress from the fragile yet streamlined skull.

Once a Komodo dragon maims its prey, which can weigh nearly as much as the lizard, it is swallowed whole and later regurgitated in a foul-smelling pellet of hair, bone and other indigestible remains. The lizards are also known for their infectious bites and parthenogenesis, or the ability to reproduce without mating.

(Agencies)