If you’re looking for a new pet, don’t even think about Komodo dragons, which are the world’s largest lizards and can grow to be 10 feet long and weigh more than 300 pounds. Komodo dragons run fast and eat almost any kind of meat, including dead or live animals, other Komodo dragons and people. “ These things are powerful killing machines,” says Bryan Fry, a biologist.
If those reasons aren’t good enough, consider the bite of a Komodo dragon. According to a new study, it may kill prey like snakes by injecting venom. This chemical, according to Fry and his team of scientists at the University of Melbourne in Australia, can cause shock in the unlucky victim. A person or animal goes into shock when the body cannot offer enough blood to the organs to keep functioning. As a result, the body starts to shut down.
Scientists have only recently begun to understand why a Komodo dragon is so deadly. Some people used to believe that a Komodo dragon’s bite contained bacteria from the mouth that would cause a severe infection in the victim’s blood. The infection would finally kill the animal. Fry says that after being bitten by a Komodo dragon, animals usually die quickly.
After more studies, Fry and his team found that the Komodo dragon venom contained some of the same ingredients as snake venom. These ingredients thin the bolld and cause blood vessels to become larger. To test the venom, the scientists injected rats with it and observed that the rats became still.
Fry’s work show that Komodo dragons kill their prey with venom, and not by bacteria—and gives us another reason why we should avoid coming across them. That is easy to do, since they live only on a few islands in the tropical country of Indonesia.
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The underlined word “ venom” in Paragraph 2 probably means _________________.
Why does a victim get into shock after being injected?
According to Fry and his team, how do the ingredients in Komodo dragons’ venom affect their victims?
“If you’re looking for a new pet, don’t even think about Komodo dragons.” What does the author mean by saying that?