Zoo breathes fire into dragon breeding

Text and photos by Tarko Sudiarno

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Weighing a mere 90 grams and just 45 centimeters long, the "babies" are nurtured with tender loving care.

Each day they are fed a special protein-rich cocktail of minced meat, egg yolks and vitamins. They sunbathe for precisely 20 minutes to expose them to vital vitamin D for growth.

They are then gingerly carried back to special climate controlled incubators, where the blissful sequence of rest and feeding begins again.

Meticulous care befitting the young of the Komodo dragon, one of the rarest large animals in the world. Efforts of the Gembira Loka Zoo here are leading to guarded optimism that the legendary dragon will live on well into the next century, at least in captivity.

The zoo has the most successful captive breeding program for Varanus komodoensis, the largest of all lizards and a living fossil of ancient animals. In the last four years alone, the zoo has successfully hatched 100 eggs.

Restricted to Komodo and several smaller islands on the East Nusa Tenggara, the dragon is a carnivore and sometimes preys on its own young, one reason its wild population remains relatively small at a few thousand animals. Researchers report 90 percent of newly hatched dragons die either owing to natural causes or after being devoured by adult animals.

Established in 1955 under the auspices of a foundation of the Yogyakarta Special District, Gembira Loka Zoo was the first zoo to breed the dragons. Surabaya Zoo attempted to establish a breeding colony of the animals, but most of the captively bred dragons perished.

Gembira's first dragons, a male and female from the wild, arrived in 1968. This pair had 27 young dragons, all of which died either because of the zoo's inexperience in rearing them or, in a grisly footnote, after being eaten by their mother.

In 1982, 10 more dragons were hatched, but only one survived. In 1992, eight more adult animals arrived from the wild after one in the zoo died.

"Since then we have learned to adjust the Komodo dragon pens to their original habitat on Komodo Island," said S. Tirtodiprojo, the zoo's director.

He said creating a captive environment as close as possible to the natural state was vital in rearing the animals. In addition, special attention must be given young dragons. An open-air pen measuring 10 m x 20 m is prepared. A stone cave is built in the pen, which is then covered with dry earth. Newborn dragons are separated from their mothers.

In April 1994, three newly hatched dragons were found in the pen and 28 more three months later. They were quarantined to prevent them from being killed by their mother and for special nurturing.

Despite the extraordinary measures, only three dragons survived the scourges of pneumonia and enteritis into adulthood. Thorough post-hatching procedures were then introduced. Today, young dragons are placed in a fiberglass incubator 1 m x 1.5 m x 2 m, warmed by a special lamp at a constant average temperature of 29 degrees Celsius.

A Gembira Loka veterinarian notes any physical development and their health every day. The quarantine lasts for three months. The dragons are then moved to a bigger box indoors and stay there until they are eight months old.

At this age, they are introduced to the outside world and occupy a semi-open enclosure. This adaptation process lasts until they are 18 months old, when they are united with adult animals in a show pen for zoo visitors to see. They can eventually reach three meters in length and weight up to 179 kgs.

With the improved post-hatching handling, only one of 52 newly hatched dragons died in 1995. In May this year, 19 animals were hatched, and all have survived to this day.

The remarkable success of the program is also creating its own challenges. The monthly food bill for seven adults and 65 young komodos is Rp 3.75 million; the animals devour 13 kgs of beef daily.

"We are faced with a dilemma now that we have so many dragons," Tirtodiprodjo said. The zoo is offering the animals under exchange programs to zoos in Indonesia and abroad (the law prevents sales of an endangered species). The dragons are swapped for animals which can supplement its captive breeding programs of other species, or for veterinary equipment. All exchanges require government permission.

Thirty-five Komodo dragons have been transferred to Bandung Zoo, Bogor Safari Park, Bali Crocodile Park, Bali Reptile Forest Park, Bukit Tinggi Zoo, Surabaya Zoo, Perth Zoo in Australia, Singapore Zoo (in exchange for surgical instruments) and Metropolitan Toronto Zoo in Canada.

Gembira Loka is now preparing to send dragons to Malaysia, South Africa, Germany, France, Sweden and Brazil. These exchanges will add six giraffes from Australia and one Mentawai monkey from West Sumatra to the collection.

There are now only 191 dragons in captivity, of which 103 are in zoos in Indonesia. But captive breeding may present the dragon's best chance of survival.

"One of the ways to develop the habitat of the Komodo dragon is to do it outside the original habitat, where the population appears to be declining," Tirtodiprojo said."