Komodon Ecology



Information
Brutal Fanged Wyverns with rugged hides, sharp claws, and venomous saliva. These beasts make for formidable monsters with their immense strength and tough armor.

Taxonomy
Order: Saurischia - Suborder: Four Legged - Superfamily: Varan Wyvern - Family: Komodon

Komodon are classified as Fanged Wyverns due to their quadrupedal, wingless anatomies. This makes them distant relatives of other Fanged Wyverns such as Zinogre, its Subspecies, and Silethos.

Habitat Range
Komodon is mostly seen inhabiting hot, dry, arid areas such as the Sandy Plains, the Desert, and the Dunes.

Ecological Niche
These wyverns dominate that ecosystems in which they reside. Komodon hunt and ambush prey including Aptonoth, Rhenoplos, Delex, Jaggi, Jaggia, Genprey, Cephalos, and Apceros. Lesser predatory monsters such as Desert Seltas, Great Jaggi, Gendrome, Volvidon, and Daimyo Hermitaur and its Subspecies. Half of their diet also consists of carrion. They will even cannibalize younger, vulnerable Komodon.

Despite being such a ferocious predator, it has to deal with other powerful monsters such as Seregios, Nibelsnarf, Desert Seltas Queen, Rajang, Deviljho, Tigerstripe Zamtrios, and Elder Dragons like Kushala Daora and Teostra. Diablos, Black Diablos, and Rust Duramboros may also attack Komodon should they draw near their territories. However, with its durable scaly hide, razor sharp claws, and deadly venomous saliva, these wyverns can and will send these monsters fleeing.

Biological Adaptions
Komodons have an average size of 1824.5 cm, making them naturally large wyvens. Their scales are reinforced by tiny bones called osteoderms that function as a sort of natural chain-mail. This provides the monster with a tough armored hide. Its powerful forelimbs and claws are used primarily for eating, climbing, and fighting. There tails are about as long as their bodies and are used mostly for support when the monster stands upright to scout the surrounding area when looking for prey. Komodons have been observed to use their strong tails to knock down and stun both prey and predators.

Komodon saliva is often described as copious and tinged with blood as 60 frequently replaced, serrated teeth are almost completely covered by gingival tissue that is naturally lacerated during feeding. This creates an ideal culture for the bacteria that live within its mouth. The saliva of Komodon is also said to be venomous as it possesses two glands in the lower jaw that secrete several different toxic proteins. The known functions of these proteins include inhibition of blood clotting, lowering of blood pressure, muscle paralysis, and the induction of hypothermia, leading to shock and loss of consciousness in envenomated prey.

Behavior
Komodon are solitary wyverns, only coming together to eat or breed. They have very slow metabolisms, able to go long periods of time without food. Young Komodons are vulnerable and therefore dwell in trees, safe from predators and cannibalistic adults.

It is most active in the day, although it exhibits some nocturnal activity. The wyverns hunt in the afternoon, but stay in the shade during the hottest part of the day. They serve as strategic locations from which to ambush prey. Because of its large size and habit of sleeping in burrows, it is able to conserve body heat throughout the night and minimize its basking period the morning after. These special resting places, usually located on ridges with cool sea breezes, are marked with droppings and are cleared of vegetation.