One of a pair of rare Komodo dragon lizards brought to the London Zoo amid great fanfare last month has died after falling off a wall while trying to reach her mate, zoo officials said on Friday.
Nina, a 10-year-old female Komodo dragon, died of internal bleeding on Wednesday after somehow scrambling up a 2,4m wall and falling into the enclosure of her male counterpart, Raja.
Such behaviour is ”both spontaneous and entirely out of character”, said the Zoological Society of London, which runs the zoo.
The pair were unveiled last month inside a million-pound, purpose-built enclosure at the zoo and were an immediate hit with visitors.
Komodo dragons are the world’s biggest lizards, reaching up to 2,75m in length, and the 5 000 or so left in the wild live only on a small number of islands centred on Flores, Indonesia.
They are carnivorous and famed for their lethal toxic saliva, which slowly kills prey if the dragon’s razor-sharp teeth fails to do so immediately.
The zoo said on Friday that Nina’s plunge has taken everyone by surprise.
”The design of the enclosure was thoroughly researched, drawing on the knowledge of the world’s leading reptile experts, but sadly this individual female dragon’s agility far exceed our expectations and research,” said London Zoo’s curator, Dr David Field.
”Immediate measures are being put in place to prevent a similar incident happening again and we are carrying out a thorough investigation into what occurred.”
The zoo had hoped that Nina, who was 2m long, would eventually breed with Raja. The zoo is considering whether to try to acquire another female. — Sapa-AFP