Komodo dragons live in the island of Flores, in Indonesia, and apart from being one of the heaviest lizards (~ 70 kg) they are also one of the few with a venomous bite. They are usually unsuccessful in actively hunting prey, specially when trying to bring down animals much bigger than them like water buffalo (300-550 kg). Nonetheless, once a komodo dragon bites a water buffalo it is just a matter of patience and tracking down with the sense of smell, to find a few days later the carcass of the buffalo ready for feeding.
People used to think that due to their scavenging nature, Komodo dragons have deadly bacteria in their saliva from the decaying flesh on which they feed, which could eventually induce sepsis in another prey if bitten. But researchers have discovered that Komodo dragons have venom in their saliva, which is designed for exsanguination by causing blood pressure to plummet, inhibiting coagulation, and inducing shock in the victim. Still, water buffalo are too big for bleeding to death from a Komodo dragon bite injury on just flesh. On the other hand, clean water is scarce in the island of Flores, which forces the buffalo to live in warm waters swarming with bacteria that enter through the open wounds inflicted by the Komodo dragons and cause the actual sepsis that leads to their death.
Comments
Interesting content
This was a really interesting post! I didn't know any of this information and it was facisnating to read. I think that you could maybe combine the two paragraphs into one, but besides that, you did a good job explaining the terms and the way that a komodo dragon kills its prey.
I enjoyed reading this post a
I enjoyed reading this post a lot. It was clear and got right to the point. My only point would be to break up the last sentence of the second paragraph into two sentences so it flows better.
This is a well written
This is a well written paragraph. I do think the last sentence is a run-on sentence. It should be broken up into two sentences. For example, "On the other hand, clean water is scarce in the island of Flores, which forces the buffalo to live in warm waters. These waters are swarming with bacteria that enter through the open wounds inflicted by the Komodo dragons, thus causing the actual sepsis that leads to their death." This would help the paragraph sound better in terms of flow, and would avoid run-on sentences.