Two wildlife park officials are recovering in an Indonesian hospital after being viciously attacked by a Komodo dragon on Tuesday.
The Jakarta Globe reported Wednesday that Ahmad Main, 50, a forest police officer at Komodo National Park, was alone in his office when the giant lizard wandered inside and attacked him by grabbing his leg as he jumped on a chair to try to get away.
It then attacked another park employee Usman Li, 35, who tried to pull the animal off Main. Both were badly bitten and were evacuated to a hospital on Bali Island.
It took several other park officials to chase the lizard out of the office.
Main received 41 stitches for wounds to his legs and Li received 42 stitches.
Sustyo Iryono, head of the national park, said that Komodo dragons are very sensitive to movement and sounds, which is what provoked the attack.
The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and is considered an endangered species with fewer than 4,000 believed to be alive. They can grow longer than 10 feet.
Scientists think that the Komodo dragons’ environment may be one reason why the lizard grows so big.
Komodo dragons live on only a few Indonesian islands including Padar and Rinca, where the lizard is the largest meat-eating animal with very few predators and little to no competition for food.
The Komodo dragon mainly eats dead animals, but it also hunts, kills and eats large prey including deer, goats and water buffaloes.
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