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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.