Giant lizard terrorizing Rabieh residents is identified

The lizard was seen last on Sunday evening, when Hussain Said contacted The Daily Star to report the reptile had come out of its shelter and eaten a cat before retreating from sight again.
Said added that he was not able to photograph the lizard because he does not own a camera, but he was able to confirm that it was a Komodo Dragon when he was shown a picture of the species.

Full Story: www.dailystar.com.lb...

Hmm that is interesting, although I have no idea where Rabieh is, or how the dragon got there.

Actually, I did some searches, and I could find no country or anything known as Rabieh. Is this a typo or something? Ah, I am confused.

Rabieh is in Lebanon, not far from Beirut.

I think it's one of the small islands in the indonisia region. As for getting there, it would just swim. Dragons are well known to be good swimmers, and due to their size, they have very few predators, even at sea.
Ah I just love komodo's, they have to be my second favorite monitor

Ah just seen PA's statement of the location. Well in that case it's probably an escaped pet.

[Edited on 13-8-2003 by feygan]

Thanks Proud, that was buggin me

Interesting post. At least i learned a bit of geography.

If it gets bored over there, it's welcome to come live at my place, I love dragons. Their such kick ass predators, they have to be up there battling with croc in my eyes, as to who is the most loved one.

This would be an interesting story, to have a Kimodo Dragon wandering the neighborhood. If this is true, this would be the first instance of a long distance transplant outside of a zoo I believe.






news.bbc.co.uk...

He's big, he's a carnivore, he's terrorising the neighbourhood's residents, he's been swimming in people's pools and he's already claimed victims - several cats, a dog and apparently even a horse.

Komodo Dragons can grow to over three metres
In Lebanon, a giant lizard has been roaming the streets of a Beirut suburb for several weeks, eluding all the attempts by the authorities to catch it.

He's Lebanon's own Komodo Dragon, or so say the witnesses who have seen him.

Haha go Komodo! These truly are fascinating creatures. Nice to see people having to deal with nature every once in a while. It would appear they are not going to have much luck catching it as all they are doing is posting guards.

A rouge kimodo dragon????

It's red???

Sorry Dr I couldn't resist.

I love dyslexic jokes.

JB, I was thinking the same thing when i first saw the title of the thread. LMAO

Did anyone see the Animal World TV show about the scientists after one of these ? Their bite is one of the most toxic known to man - one guy described them as a "Weapon of Mass Destruction". They arnt venemous as such - just their salavia contains some of the most virulent pathogens known to man. The scientists were hoping that blood drawn from the animal would ive a clue to a new wave of anti-biotics - as they can survive a bite from each other. I think the programme claimed that ony a handful of humans have survived the bite - but even there there is no telling what longterm effects these people will suffer.

Sure is scary to think of one wandering about loose in a populated area - rather than in their native islands.

Sure is scary to think of one wandering about loose in a populated area - rather than in their native islands.

Sounds rather Godzilla-ish if you ask me.

I had no idea these things were poisonous, natural selection kicks @$$.

They arnt actually poisoness - as a spider or snake might be - actually the rotting flesh of their victims between their teeth creates a biological soup of all sorts of nasties. To kill they bite then follow the victim till it drops of the effects of the bite. This is infection and can take very little time.

Like you say mother nature can really bite at times !

o geeze, when i was younger i was OBSESSED with komodo dragons, and now I think my addiction is back.

For those who mentioned something about finding new antibiotics from the Komodo Dragon:

The Komodo dragon, the world's largest lizard, lives on the island of Komodo and nearby isles in Indonesia. This monster can grow to be 10 feet long has been known to eat people and anything else that gets in its way, including other Komodo dragons. We aren't painting a pretty picture of this animal, and it only gets worse. The Komodo dragon is a scavenger as well as a hunter, and the dead animals it finds and eats are often rotten and crawling with disease-causing microbes...mmm! Our pal Komodo turns this to its advantage when hunting. Often, it doesn't attack and kill its prey, but just gives it a good bite on the leg, for example, then lets the prey run away. Since Komodo has been feeding on infected carrion, its saliva is filled with deadly microbes. When Komodo bites its prey, the prey gets infected, and soon dies. When this happens, Komodo returns to chow down on the dead animal.

Komodo's use of biological warfare to kill its prey made Diamond wonder about something. Why don't the deadly microbes kill the Komodo dragon? So he began to study the bodily fluids of Komodo dragons, again looking for compounds with antibiotic substances. Who knows? A drug found in the Komodo dragon may save your life someday.

The natural world is a place of fierce competition. Penicillium mold produces penicillin to protect itself from the onslaught of bacteria. Since bacteria can infect any organism, it's only logical that other organisms, including big scary reptiles, might produce antibiotics to protect themselves as well. Whether or not killers like the salt water crocodile and the Komodo dragon will become life-saving sources of antibiotics remains to be seen. But one thing is for certain. Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey, or Ernest Chain never had to worry about getting an arm bitten off by a penicillium mold!

www.chemheritage.org...

Dragonrider - thanks for the post - it summarises the programme i was refering to.