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Fw: 'Virgin birth' dragon Flora becomes a mum and dad
Forwarded with permission.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael J. Balsai" <vze3vhpv@verizon.net>
To: <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 9:41 PM
Subject: Re: 'Virgin birth' dragon Flora becomes a mum and dad
The creature is carnivorous, killing goats, deer and other mammals
through deadly bacteria in its saliva.
Nope, its own self-made venom.
This is just not true! The Komodo dragon is infamous for the number
of virulent pathogenic bacteria it apparently cultures in its saliva
in the wild. Komodo dragons that are kept as captives and whose
mouths are cleaned up and sanitized, do not have such a dangerous
bite. I have also kept many captive monitor lizards (though not
Komodos) and have been bitten several times and have never suffered
ill effects from any sort of venom. Check the work of Auffenberg for
information on the bacterial toxicity of Komodo dragon bites.
Mike Balsai, Ph.D.