Komodo Dragon Raids Goat Farmer’s Yard but Quickly Swallows the Evidence

No Komodo dragon is going to turn down the chance of a goat meal – even if it belongs to someone else! This huge reptile has bagged itself a tasty snack courtesy of a local goat farmer. Now all he has to do is hide the evidence and that’s no problem for an animal as big as this. Within seconds the goat has disappeared and the crime will remain unsolved!

Watch the Incredible Video Below

What Do Komodo Dragons Normally Eat?

Komodo dragons are large reptiles that are opportunistic carnivores. While the younger individuals feed on smaller lizards, insects, and birds, the larger ones feed on rodents, larger birds, and reptiles. Included in their diet you will find geckos, small snakes, and skinks.

Larger Komodo dragons are ferocious hunters and can take down a wild boar and even a water buffalo. They have been seen hunting large snakes and other Komodo dragons.

As you can see from the above clip, these guys are experts at catching goats. They are perfectly capable of stealing farmers’ livestock, and this happens quite frequently when they live near human settlements.

How Do Komodo Dragons Prey?

Komodo dragons detect their prey using their snake-like tongue. They extend it outwards and move it up and down sampling the air for chemicals given off by animals or carrion. When they bring their tongue back into their mouth, it carries the odor molecules with it. Then, their vomeronasal organs are used to detect these chemicals. This organ is located in the soft tissue of the nasal septum just above the roof of the mouth.

Once the prey is detected, the Komodo dragon lunges at it closing its jaws rapidly around the target. The prey is either held until it stops struggling or is bashed around to kill it. As you can see in the above clip, small prey are swallowed whole and this is usually done headfirst. Larger prey needs to be ripped apart and consumed in pieces.

These guys swallow by pushing the prey down their throats and using their flexible jaws to move forward to engulf it. The structure at the back of the tongue called the hyoid apparatus, also helps to move the food back into the food pipe (esophagus). The whole carcass is eaten. Then, they regurgitate gastric pellets made up of any material that they cannot digest such as fur, partially digested bones, and hooves. Sadly, that is the eventual fate of this goat.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Sergey Uryadnikov/Shutterstock.com