La langue du dragon de Komodo, un véritable outil de chasse

Watch La langue du dragon de Komodo, un véritable outil de chasse - LilaTv Official on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:01 The life of the Komodo dragon is a permanent struggle for supremacy,

00:05 and this male will have to fight to be allowed to hunt here.

00:28 Its main tool to detect food is its tongue.

00:33 Like the snake's, it tastes air molecules

00:37 thanks to the organ of Jacobson, located in its upper jaw.

00:41 With its tongue's odour, this dragon can spot a dead or alive animal

00:48 at a distance of 4.5 km.

00:52 But in addition to this arsenal, it is equipped with a secret weapon.

00:56 For a long time, it was believed that its saliva contained a deadly bacterium

01:03 that immobilized its prey.

01:05 This bacterium was supposed to cause a serious infection

01:11 and make the slightest deadly bite.

01:17 But new studies have revealed a new surprising element

01:21 that makes the Komodo dragon an even more formidable predator than we thought.

01:26 These studies show that the dragon is venomous.

01:29 We have indeed found venom glands under its lower jaw.

01:34 The venomous glands are the blood vessels of the Komodo dragon.

01:41 When it dies, it releases a hemotoxin, a toxic substance

01:45 that destroys blood cells and acts much faster than a bacterium.

01:49 This revelation places the dragon on the list of Komodo and Rinka's venomous animals.

02:06 [music]

02:11 (whooshing)