The Komodo dragon is a species of lizard that inhabits the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang, and Gili Dasami, in central Indonesia. A member of the monitor lizard family (Varanidae), it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to an average length of 2–3 meters (approximately 6.5–10 ft) and weighing around 70 kilograms (154 lb). Their unusual size is attributed to island gigantism, since there are no other carnivorous animals to fill the niche on the islands where they live, and also to the Komodo dragon's low metabolic rate. As a result of their size, these lizards are apex predators, dominating the ecosystems in which they live. Although Komodo dragons eat mostly carrion, they will also hunt and ambush prey including invertebrates, birds, and mammals. Mating begins between May and August, and the eggs are laid in September. About twenty eggs are deposited in abandoned megapode nests and incubated for seven to eight months, hatching in April, when insects are most plentiful. Young Komodo dragons are vulnerable and therefore dwell in trees, safe from predators and cannibalistic adults. They take around three to five years to mature, and may live as long as fifty years. In the wild their range has contracted due to human activities and they are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. They are protected under Indonesian law, and a national park, Komodo National Park, was founded to aid protection efforts.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komodo_dragon

_________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1665:

The London Gazette, the oldest surviving English newspaper, was first published as the Oxford Gazette. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Gazette)

1811:

American forces led by Indiana Territory Governor William Henry Harrison defeated the forces of Shawnee leader Tecumseh's growing American Indian confederation at the Battle of Tippecanoe near present-day Battle Ground, Indiana. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tippecanoe)

1885:

Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the first transcontinental railroad across Canada, concluded with financier and politician Sir Donald Smith driving in the "last spike" in Craigellachie, British Columbia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Pacific_Railway)

1917:

Vladimir Lenin led a Bolshevik insurrection against the Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky, starting the Bolshevik Revolution, the second phase of the overall Russian Revolution. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution_(1917)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution_%281917%29 )

1987:

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali deposed and replaced Habib Bourguiba as President of Tunisia, declaring him medically unfit for the duties of the office. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_El_Abidine_Ben_Ali)

_______________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

grandiloquent (adj) Of a person, their language or writing: overly wordy, pompous, flowery, or elaborate. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grandiloquent)

______________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Creators, makers of the new, can never become obsolete, for in the arts there is no correct answer. The story of discoverers could be told in simple chronological order, since the latest science replaces what went before. But the arts are another story — a story of infinite addition. We must find order in the random flexings of the imagination. --Daniel J. Boorstin (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_J._Boorstin)