[HPforGrownups] Re: At the zoo

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 5951

eliasberg at ioc.net wrote:

> "Didnt they claim they were shooting the Komodo dragons
> (which are these bizarre little lizards)".
>
> Bizarre little lizards? odd way to refer to a lizard that dines on
> deer! fully grown deer at that.

Yeah, Komodo dragons are the largest lizards in the world. Besides
full-grown goats and each other, they occasionally take people on their
native island, if said people are out of their little houses-on-stilts after
dark. But they aren't really draconic in appearance, no frills or ridges or
anything--just big lizards, six to nine feet long. Besides, working with
them is dangerous, because while they are not technically venomous, they
have a huge range of bacteria in their saliva, and any bite from a Komodo
dragon is almost certain to become nastily infected (at least the wild ones;
don't know about the zoo kind. Perhaps if they limit the decaying meat they
eat, it won't be as bad). It's gotta just be the boa constrictor scene. I
agree, reporters are goobs, they probably just latched onto the word
"dragon" and ran with it.

--Amanda