Just trying to work out he age of the dragon at Taronga. Found info on the Taronga web page saying he came from a Indonesian zoo in 1992 after spending 10 years there. Does anyone know if he was born at the Indoesian zoo or was he wild caught and taken to the zoo. If he was born there he is around 27. How long are they known to live for in captivity? Does anyone know when the female was with him? Was she there when serpentaria opened in 1995?
I don't recall there being a female with him. Not in Serpentaria (or whatever it's called these days). They put a female in with the male in the old enclosure, but he killed her (and a female Lace Monitor they had also tried out), but I don't know if it was the current Dragon or Keith (the Komodo they had for many, many years). Hix
the male dragon was wild-caught on Flores (near a village called Tuka, hence his name), presumably in 1982 if he was in the Indonesian zoo for ten years.
Thanks Hix and Chlidonias. He is a great looking lizard. Hopefully he will be around for a while yet. does anyone have any info on ages of other komodo's in captivity. What is considered old for them? Is Taronga's old, middle aged or young?
when your next at 'reptile kingdom'? note the two different sized doors-one male sized, one female sized. yeh, sadly the male komodo at taronga attacked and mauled the smaller female-their enclosure used to be where, up until recently the main entry plaza koala photos were. when serpenteria opened, they walked the komodo down using food as a lure- it featured on the tv comerical
that would be due to the limited numbers in australia past and present. At the moment Taronga has one male and Australia zoo has three. i think adelaide plan to get some.
Would be nice to see some more zoo's & parks jump on them, im preety sure a few years back a zoo in europe? (not sure exactly) had a female who reproduced on her own... no male needed! she gave birth to a few healthy dragons, but this species is fairly difficult to breed let alone a female on her own!
I also recall Wyndham Croc farm also acquired komodos in the 90s. Don't ask me how they got them but it involved Perth Z getting ripped off in a deal that they should have had in writing...
Under an AQIS amnesty those Dragons should still be at Wyndham. Those are the Dragons now at AZ. Perth weren't the only ones ripped at some stage over these particular Dragons. They are living proof of the old adage ... "money talks ...!!!
I put that down to lack of experience/knowledge of Komodo dragons. It is known for a fact that larger Komodo dragons prey on their smaller siblings or conspecifics. So, if and when Taronga wishes to breed from the wc male, it requires bringing in a similar sized female for him. That way they will breed as opposed to being food for Lucky!
... I had wondered how Australia Zoo had ended up with komodos. I figured a charm offensive by the late Mr Irwin...
