BobbieSue reporting today – it’s been a while since my last report – not much to report on around here! But for those of you who find reptiles off-putting – this is your one warning!! No worries -my story’s not about snakes – but dragons!! Komodo Dragons to be exact.
The story starts several years ago with a male Komodo Dragon named Teman who lives at the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Museum.
This is Teman – he’s a big guy, isn’t he? Well it seems male dragons live for 60 years and and can grow up to 10 feet and weigh up to 330 pounds! Unfortunately they are also endangered in the wild so there are breeding programs in certain zoos, or, in this case, aquariums.
So a couple of years ago a female dragon named Jude moved in (she was on loan from San Antonio) and she and Teman tried a couple of times for babies but it never happened. Then in June she became deathly ill and had to be euthanized.
The staff at the aquarium were so devastated they left her enclosure alone. Then, surprise, surprise, on August 18 two baby dragons popped their heads up in Jude’s old enclosure!!!
The staff had no idea that Jude had laid a clutch of eggs before her unfortunate death in June! Out of 18 eggs only two hatched so far (the rest are in an incubator but the staff don’t think they’ll hatch).
The babies are off display right now being watched over like the true treasures they are!
Mother Jude evaded the aquarium’s cameras that monitored her 24-7, dug down two feet and then tunneled under her exhibit to hide her eggs. And there they lay, slowly maturing for 7 months!!!
Komodo Dragons are considered “Vulnerable” on the endangered list because of human encroachment and the reproductive problems of the female dragons. We are grateful these two babies survived against all odds!!
It’s probably too early to tell their gender, but they sure are cute!!!!
I found this story in The Virginian-Pilot and all photos are by The’ N. Pham.
Please go HERE to read more about it online!
Please go HERE to read more about Komodo Dragons on National Geographic!
Well, I hope you enjoyed my news report – even if it wasn’t about cats!!!!
See you next time when I’ll have more news to report – whenever that is!!!
Toby In Charge 