Komodo Island Facts
Komodo Island Facts
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| Interesting Komodo Island Facts: |
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| Those who live on this island are the descendants of former convicts who were sent to the island following their convictions. |
| The Komodo dragons that inhabit this island and only a few others nearby are the largest lizards on earth. |
| Komodo Island covers an area of 390 square kilometers. It is 15km wide and 30km long. |
| There are 2000 people that live on the island as permanent residents. |
| The religions of the people that live on the island are Hindu, Christianity, and Islamic. |
| Komodo Island is part of a chain of islands known as the Lesser Sunda Chain. |
| Between April and December it is the dry season for Komodo Island. The coldest months are July and August. During these months the average temperature is 30 degrees Celsius. |
| Komodo Island's rainy season is from January to March. Although this is the rainy season, Komodo Island does not get the torrential rain that the rest of Indonesia experiences. |
| It's possible to go diving in Komodo all year long. |
| There are less than 4000 wild birds on Komodo Island, and it is also home to many endangered species. There are approximately 25 different endangered species on Komodo Island. |
| Komodo Island is believed to have been formed approximately 1 million years ago. |
| In the coral reefs under the sea around Komodo Island there are approximately 1000 species of fish, and 253 reef-building coral species. |
| There are only seven beaches in the world with pink sand. Komodo Island has one of these pink sand beaches. The pink sand is a mixture of red and white sand. |
| Although there were stories of the Komodo dragon for many years, nobody went to Komodo Island to check until the early 1910s. |
| In the mid-1900s, fossils were found in Australia very similar to Komodo dragons. These fossils dated back 30 to 60 million years ago. |
| The Dutch sailors originally described the dragons as being seven meters long, and able to breathe fire. After an expedition by a Dutch official, the results were published in 1912. The Komodo dragon did not breathe fire and was in fact, a monitor lizard. |
| The highest mountain on Komodo Island is Satalibo, which reaches 735 meters at its peak. |
| There remnants of rainforest on Komodo Island, as well as bamboo forests. |
| Deer are a favorite food of the Komodo dragon and in an effort to increase their population the government began prohibiting deer hunting by the islanders. |
| In 1991, Komodo National Park was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. |
| Komodo Island became one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature on November 11, 2011. |
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