| Welcome to Carnivora. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Wild Komodo Dragon Bite Test | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 20 2014, 03:50 PM (708 Views) | |
| Moreno | Nov 20 2014, 03:50 PM Post #1 |
|
Heterotrophic Organism
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
http://youtube.com/watch?v=28FzV5OHqMU Apparently Komodo Dragons bite harder then expected with this bite test. They didn't isolate one, But I heard this bite test gauge locks onto one bite, so multiple bites shouldn't matter? Not saying this debunks the research Wroe and Moreno did. Considering this guy didn't isolate one and repeat it to several different Komodos. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080418-komodo-dragons.html http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7580.2008.00899.x/full But maybe a wild Komodo bites harder then a house cat or a captive Komodo(maybe not 600 pounds)? Don't wild cats bite harder then captive ones or something to that effect? Not saying they need it, their bites do horrific damage without venom, just sheer physical trauma alone is bad enough. I'm sure he coulda just messed the whole test up with multiple animals biting the test gauge,so the whole thing is invalid, just wanted more input into it. Edited by Moreno, Nov 20 2014, 03:57 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| spalea | Nov 22 2014, 05:05 PM Post #2 |
|
Heterotrophic Organism
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Very intersting test. I'm also surprised. About your bite force question, wild cat have a stronger bite force than the captive ones. Because they have to hunt, because they have to fight every day. But if the daily life of the wild cat is very different of the captive ones, perhaps the difference is not so great as concerns the komodo dragons. The reptiles' metabolism is not as great as the mammalians' one. Thus it is a lower difference, I think... |
![]() |
|
| Moreno | Nov 22 2014, 06:04 PM Post #3 |
|
Heterotrophic Organism
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Yea I read that too. I also heard captive alligators bite harder then wild ones? Keep in mind the test Wroe and Moreno did, they attached a piece of food to entice the Komodos (I think) and it's a laid back affair feeding dead animals/meat to Monitors usually. Not saying they didn't attack viciously, just a possibility. I think only some shaked or pulled. I'm going off memory here. And their gape angle might not have been right, I seen Komodos turn their head diagonally then bite (sometimes). The guy was surprised how hard it bite. And I don't think he would let it go If they bite test gauge didn't lock on to one bite, would just be plain inaccurate. He did a bite test on a hyena That came out to 400 something lbs but that was a nip going backwards. Then a saltwater crocodile was high (1500lbs or something like that) but not the highest that has been recorded, but the second bite it took the bite gauge out His hands, so it seems accurate for the most part. I think their needs to be more testing done on wild Komodos that don't have a captive life style. A computer model was done but I would like to have real world results to confirm or deny that model. And to reptiles metabolism your right to modern extant reptiles (if you don't include birds) but Monitors seem to be mammal like I believe. I heard conflicting arguement but usually monitors have a more mammal like metabolism when they do strenuous activities or something like that. Edited by Moreno, Nov 22 2014, 06:39 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| Sleipnir | Nov 24 2014, 04:01 AM Post #4 |
|
Steed of the Deathless
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
I was first thinking that monitors bite in a quite different approach.Turns out the Komodo dragon is venomous. In Fry's study, MRI scans of dragon skulls showed two small venom glands in the lower jaw, and analysis of one captive specimen showed that they're not just for show. (This hadn't been studied before due to the difficulty of obtaining dragon bodies for study.) The Komodo dragon venom consists of a few kinds of toxic proteins, and causes exactly the effect we've seen from dragon bites: rapid blood loss, inhibition of clotting, paralysis, and extreme pain. It's a combination of mostly familiar toxins, seen in other monitor lizards (the dragon is the largest species of monitor lizard) and some other reptiles. Did a little research from national geographic and Popsci.com
Edited by Sleipnir, Nov 24 2014, 04:03 AM.
|
![]() |
|
| spalea | Nov 24 2014, 04:19 AM Post #5 |
|
Heterotrophic Organism
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Yes agree... That is because of its venom the Komodo dragon doesn't need to bite strongly its preys. |
![]() |
|
| Moreno | Nov 24 2014, 05:16 AM Post #6 |
|
Heterotrophic Organism
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
While venom is true, its more of a supplement. Their bite does massive damage in physical trauma. They don't need a big bite force for the slicing bite they have, the way the skull and neck biomechanics are designed. Think Allosaurus or Charcharodontosaurus. Everything seems to be strong in their neck. "but a combination of very clever engineering, and wickedly sharp teeth, allow it to do serious damage to even buffalo-sized prey. "The Komodo displays a unique hold and pull-feeding technique," says Dr Wroe. "Its delicate skull differs greatly from most living terrestrial large prey specialists, but it's a precision instrument, beautifully optimised to make the most of its natural cranial and dental properties. "Unlike most modern predators, Varanus komodoensis applies minimal input from the jaw muscles when killing and butchering prey. But it compensates using a series of actions controlled by its postcranial muscles. A particularly interesting feature of the skull's performance is that it reveals considerably lower overall stress when these additional forces driven by the neck are added to those of the jaw-closing muscles. "This remarkable reduction in stress in response to additional force is facilitated partly by the shape of the bones, but also by the way bone of different strengths are arranged within the skull." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080414091357.htm http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080418-komodo-dragons.html http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090518172650.htm But if they bite hard like in the video, then it's a different story. |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
![]() Our users say it best: "Zetaboards is the best forum service I have ever used." Learn More · Register for Free |
|
| « Previous Topic · Video & Image Gallery · Next Topic » |





![]](http://b2.ifrm.com/28122/87/0/p701956/pipright.png)




12:00 AM Jul 12