KAWASAN WALLACEA 6 - PETA WILAYAH PENYEBARAN TUMBUHAN DAN HEWAN

PETA WILAYAH PENYEBARAN TUMBUHAN DAN HEWAN, GARIS WALLACE DAN WEBER, SERTA ENAM DAERAH PENYEBARAN BIOTIK DI DUNIA

BAB I

PENDAHULUAN

A. LATAR BELAKANG

Persebaran hewan di muka bumi ini didasarkan oleh faktor fisiografik, iklim dan biotik yang berbeda antara wilayah yang satu dengan lainnya, sehingga akhirnya menyebabkan perbedaan jenis hewan di suatu wilayah.

Di samping itu faktor sejarah geologi juga mempengaruhi persebaran hewan di wilayah tertentu karena wilayah tersebut pernah menjadi satu. Namun hewan berbeda dengan tumbuhan yang bersifat pasif. Pada hewan, bila habitatnya dirasakan sudah tidak cocok, maka seringkali mengadakan migrasi ke tempat lainnya secara besar-besaran. Oleh karena itu pola persebaran fauna tidak seperti persebaran flora. Adakalanya hewan khas di suatu wilayah juga terdapat di wilayah lainnya.

Dari sedikit keterangan di atas, maka kami akan membuat makalah dengan judul “Peta Wilayah Penyebaran Tumbuhan dan Hewan, Garis Wallace dan Weber, serta Enam Daerah Penyebaran Biotik di Dunia”

B. RUMUSAN MASALAH

Dari latar belakang di atas, maka dapat dirumuskan beberapa masalah, diantaranya:

1. apa yang di maksud dan tujuan dari garis Wallace dan Weber?
2. apa sajakah enam wilayah penyebaran biotik yang ada di dunia?
3. di manakah letak garis Wallace dan Weber yang ada di Indonesia?

C. Tujuan

Dari rumusan masalah di atas, maka tujuan dari makalah ini, diantaranya:

1. mengetahui maksud dan tujuan dari garis Wallace dan Weber
2. mengetahui enam wilayah penyebaran biotic yang ada di dunia
3. mengetahui letak garis Wallace dan Weber yang ada di Indonesia

BAB II

PEMBAHASAN

A. Garis Wallace Garis Weber

Dalam membahas ilmu geografi tumbuhan dan hewan, kita tidak terlepas dari seorang ahli ilmu alam dari Inggris, yaitu Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913). Dia mempelopori penyelidikan secara modern tentang Geografi hewan terlepas dari teori Darwin. Dia mendalilkan suatu garis khayal sebagai pemisah antara dunia hewan Australis dan Asiatis. Alfred Russel Wallace mengadakan penelitian mengenai penyebaran hewan di Indonesia. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ada perbedaan hewan di Indonesia bagian Barat dengan hewan di Indonesia bagian Timur. Batasnya di mulai dari Selat Lombok sampai ke Selat Makasar. Oleh sebab itu garis batasnya dinamakan garis Wallace. Batas ini bersamaan pula dengan batas penyebaran binatang dan tumbuhan dari Asia ke Indonesia.

Kawasan Wallacea: meliputi wilayah Pulau Sulawesi, Kepulauan Maluku, Sumba, Sumbawa, Lombok dan Timor. Memiliki hewan-hewan khas (terutama di Pulau Sulawesi) tidak sama dengan hewan oriental dan hewan Australia, misal: Anoa, burung Mako, kera hitam.

Di samping itu seorang peneliti berkebangsaan Jerman bernama Weber, berdasarkan penelitiannya tentang penyebaran fauna di Indonesia, menetapkan batas penyebaran hewan dari Australia ke Indonesia bagian Timur. Garis batas tersebut dinamakan garis Weber.

B. Wilayah Penyebaran Biotik di Dunia

1. Wilayah Ethiopian

Wilayah persebarannya meliputi benua Afrika, dari sebelah Selatan Gurun Sahara, Madagaskar dan Selatan Saudi Arabia.
Hewan yang khas didaerah ini adalah:

• gajah Afrika, 
• badak Afrika, 
• gorila, 
• baboon, 
• simpanse, 
• jerapah, 
• harimau. 

Mamalia endemik di wilayah ini adalah

• Kuda Nil yang hanya terdapat di Sungai Nil, Mesir.

2. Wilayah Paleartik

Wilayah persebarannya sangat luas meliputi

• hampir seluruh benua Eropa, 
• Uni Sovyet, 
• daerah dekat Kutub Utara sampai Pegunungan Himalaya, 
• Kepulauan Inggris di Eropa Barat sampai Jepang, 
• Selat Bering di pantai Pasifik,
• benua Afrika paling Utara. 

Kondisi lingkungan wilayah ini bervariasi, baik perbedaan suhu, curah hujan maupun kondisi permukaan tanahnya, menyebabkan jenis faunanya juga bervariasi. Beberapa jenis fauna Paleartik yang tetap bertahan di lingkungan aslinya yaitu

• Panda di Cina, 
• unta di Afrika Utara, 
• binatang kutub seperti rusa Kutub, kucing Kutub, dan beruang Kutub. 

Binatang-binatang yang berasal dari wilayah ini antara lain

• kelinci, 
• sejenis tikus, 
• berbagai spesies anjing, 
• kelelawar,
• bajing, 
• kijang 

telah menyebar ke wilayah lainnya.

3. Wilayah Nearktik

Wilayah persebarannya meliputi kawasan

• Amerika Serikat, 
• Amerika Utara dekat Kutub Utara, 
• Greenland. 

Hewan khas daerah ini adalah

• ayam kalkun liar, 
• tikus berkantung di Gurun Pasifik Timur, 
• bison, 
• muskox, 
• caribau, 
• domba gunung.

4. Wilayah Neotropikal

Wilayah persebarannya meliputi

• Amerika Tengah, 
• Amerika Selatan, 
• sebagian besar Meksiko. 

Iklim di wilayah ini sebagian besar beriklim tropik dan bagian Selatan beriklim sedang. Hewan endemiknya adalah

• ikan Piranha dan 
• Belut listrik di Sungai Amazone, 
• Lama (sejenis unta) di padang pasir Atacama (Peru), 
• tapir, 
• kera hidung merah. 

Wilayah Neotropikal sangat terkenal sebagai wilayah fauna Vertebrata karena jenisnya yang sangat beranekaragam dan spesifik, seperti beberapa spesies

• monyet, 
• trenggiling, 

beberapa jenis reptil seperti

• buaya, 
• ular, 
• kadal, 
• beberapa spesies burung, 
• sejenis kelelawar penghisap darah.

5. Wilayah Oriental

Untuk daerah oriental, daerah penyebaran biotiknya meliputi daerah

• Asia bagian selatan pegunungan Himalaya, 
• India, 
• Sri Langka, 
• Semenanjung Melayu, 
• Sumatera, 
• Jawa, 
• Kalirnantan, 
• Sulawesi,
• Filipina. 

Fauna yang terdapat di daerah penyebaran ini misalnya:

• Siamang, 
• Orang utan, 
• Gajah, 
• Badak, 
• burung Merak.

Fauna Indonesia yang masuk wilayah ini hanya di Indonesia bagian Barat. Hewan yang khas wilayah ini adalah

• harimau, 
• orang utan, 
• gibbon, 
• rusa, 
• banteng,
• badak bercula satu. 

Hewan lainnya adalah

• badak bercula dua, 
• gajah, 
• beruang, 
• antilop,
• berbagai jenis reptil, 
• ikan. 

Adanya jenis hewan yang hampir sama dengan wilayah Ethiopian antara lain

• kucing, 
• anjing, 
• monyet, 
• gajah, 
• badak,
• harimau, 

menunjukkan bahwa Asia Selatan dan Asia Tenggara pernah menjadi satu daratan dengan Afrika.

Fauna ini tersebar di bagian Barat yang meliputi Pulau

• Sumatera, 
• Kalimantan, 
• Jawa,
• Bali.

6. Wilayah Australian

Wilayah ini mencakup kawasan Australia, Selandia Baru, Irian, Maluku, pulau-pulau di sekitarnya, dan kepulauan di Samudera Pasifik. Beberapa hewan khas wilayah ini adalah kanguru, kiwi, koala, cocor bebek (sejenis mamalia bertelur). Terdapat beberapa jenis burung yang khas wilayah ini seperti

• burung cendrawasih, 
• burung kasuari, 
• burung kakaktua,
• betet. 

Kelompok reptil antara lain

• buaya, 
• kura-kura, 
• ular pitoon.

Fauna yang terdapat di wilayah ini terdapat di Irian Jaya dan pulau-pulau disekitarnya. Binatang-binatangnya mempunyai kesamaan dengan binatang-binatang di benua Australia. Daerah ini juga disebut fauna dataran Sahul, contohnya antara lain: 

• kanguru, 
• kasuari, 
• kuskus, 
• burung cendrawasih,
• berbagai jenis burung lainnya, 
• reptil,
• amphibi.

C.  
Garis Wallace dan Weber di Indonesia

Hewan-hewan yang berada di Oriental dan Australis batas pertemuannya dari kedua jenis hewan tersebut berada di kepulauan Indonesia. Begitu juga dengan jenis-jenis tumbuhan yang dikemukakan oleh Weber. Batas masing-masing jenis hewan dan tumbuhan yang dikemukakan oleh kedua ahli tersebut dibuat garis khayal yang memisahkan golongan hewan dan tumbuhan Asiatis, golongan hewan dan tumbuhan peralihan antara Asiatis dan Australis, dan golongan hewan dan tumbuhan Australis.

Oleh karena itu, Kepulauan Indonesia dibagi menjadi tiga golongan hewan dan tumbuhan berdasarkan jenis persebarannya.

1. Asiatis/Oriental

Daerah ini juga disebut daerah fauna dataran Sunda. Fauna Asiatis antara lain adalah: 

• gajah India di Sumatera, 
• harimau terdapat di Jawa, Sumatera, Bali, 
• badak bercula dua di Sumatera dan Kalimantan, 
• badak bercula satu di Jawa, orang utan di Sumatera dan Kalimantan, 
• Kancil di Jawa, Sumatera dan Kalimantan, 
• beruang madu di Sumatera dan Kalimantan. 

Hal yang menarik adalah di Kalimantan tidak terdapat harimau dan di Sulawesi terdapat binatang Asiatis seperti 

• monyet, 
• musang, 
• anoa,
• rusa. 

Di Nusa Tenggara terdapat sejenis cecak terbang yang termasuk binatang Asia.  
Fauna endemik di daerah ini adalah, 

• badak bercula satu di Ujung kulon Jawa Barat, 
• Beo Nias di Kabupaten Nias, 
• Bekantan/Kera Belanda,
• Orang Utan di Kalimantan.

Flora di dataran Sunda disebut juga flora Asiatis karena ciri-cirinya mirip dengan ciri-ciri tumbuhan Asia. Contoh-contohnya yaitu: 

• tumbuhan jenis meranti-merantian, 
• berbagai jenis rotan,
• berbagai jenis nangka. 

Hujan Tropis terdapat di bagian Tengah dan Barat pulau Sumatera dan sebagian besar wilayah Kalimantan. Hal ini dikarenakan sejarah geologi dulu bahwa dataran Sunda bergabung dengan benua Asia.

Di dataran Sunda banyak dijumpai tumbuhan endemik, yaitu tumbuhan yang hanya terdapat pada tempat tertentu dengan batas wilayah yang relatif sempit dan tidak terdapat di wilayah lain. Tumbuhan endemik tersebut terdapat di Kalimantan sebanyak 59 jenis dan di Jawa 10 jenis. Misalnya bunga Rafflesia Arnoldii hanya terdapat di perbatasan Bengkulu, Jambi, dan Sumatera Selatan. Anggrek Tien Soeharto yang hanya tumbuh di Tapanuli Utara, Sumatera Utara.

2. Australis

Fauna yang terdapat di wilayah ini terdapat di Irian Jaya dan pulau-pulau disekitarnya. Binatang-binatangnya mempunyai kesamaan dengan binatang-binatang di benua Australia. Daerah ini juga disebut fauna dataran Sahul, contohnya antara lain: 

• kanguru, 
• kasuari, 
• kuskus, 
• burung cendrawasih
• berbagai jenis burung lainnya, 
• reptil, 
• amphibi.

Flora yang ada di dataran Sahul disebut juga flora Australis sebab jenis floranya mirip dengan flora di benua Australia. Dataran Sahul yang meliputi Irian Jaya dan pulau-pulau kecil yang ada disekitarnya memiliki corak hutan Hujan Tropik tipe Australia Utara, dengan ciri-ciri sangat lebat dan selalu hijau sepanjang tahun. Di dalamnya tumbuh beribu-ribu jenis tumbuh-tumbuhan dari yang besar dan tingginya bisa mencapai lebih dari 50 m, berdaun lebat sehingga matahari sukar menembus ke permukaan tanah dan tumbuhan kecil yang hidupnya merambat. Berbagai jenis kayu yang punya nilai ekonomis tinggi tumbuh dengan baik, seperti 

• kayu besi, 
• cemara, 
• eben hitam, 
• kenari hitam, 
• kayu merbau. 

Di daerah pantai banyak kita jumpai 

• hutan mangrove
• pandan, 

sedangkan di daerah rawa terdapat sagu untuk bahan makanan. Di daerah pegunungan terdapat tumbuhan Rhododendron yang merupakan tumbuhan endemik daerah ini.

3. Daerah Peralihan

Fauna peralihan tersebar di 

• Maluku, 
• Sulawesi,
• Nusa Tenggara. 

Daerah fauna Peralihan dibatasi oleh garis Wallace yang membatasi dengan fauna di dataran Sunda dan garis Weber yang membatasi dengan fauna di dataran Sahul. Contoh faunanya antara lain: 

• babi rusa, 
• anoa, 
• kuskus, 
• biawak, 
• katak terbang. Katak terbang ini juga termasuk fauna Asiatis. 

Di daerah fauna peralihan juga terdapat fauna endemik seperti: 

• Komodo di P. Komodo dan pulau-pulau sekitarnya, 
• tapir (kerbau liar), 
• burung Kasuari di Pulau Morotai, Obi, Halmahera dan Bacan

Flora yang terdapat di daerah peralihan ini meliputi pulau 

• Sulawesi, 
• Maluku,
• Nusa Tenggara. 

Pulau-pulau ini disebut daerah peralihan karena flora di daerah peralihan, mempunyai kemiripan dengan flora yang ada di daerah kering di 

• Maluku, 
• Nusa Tenggara,
• Jawa,
• Filipina. 

Di kawasan pegunungannya terdapat jenis tumbuhan yang mirip dengan tumbuhan di Kalimantan. Sedangkan di kawasan pantai dan dataran rendahnya mirip dengan tumbuhan di Irian Jaya. Corak vegetasi yang terdapat di daerah Peralihan meliputi: 

• Vegetasi Sabana Tropik di Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, 
• Hutan pegunungan di Sulawesi,
• Hutan Campuran di Maluku.

Pembagian flora dan fauna di Indonesia tersebut didasarkan pada faktor geologi. Yang secara geologi pulau-pulau di Indonesia Barat pernah menyatu dengan benua Asia sedangkan pulau-pulau di Indonesia Timur pernah menyatu dengan benua Australia. Oleh karena itu tumbuhan dan hewan di benua Asia mempunyai ciri-ciri yang mirip dengan tumbuhan dan hewan di Indonesia Barat. Demikian pula ciri-ciri tumbuhan dan hewan di Indonesia Timur mirip dengan tumbuhan dan hewan di benua Australia.

BAB III

PENUTUP

1. Ringkasan

• Garis Wallace dan Weber dibuat oleh Alfred Wallace dari Inggris, dan Weber dari Jerman sebagai pemisah antara tumbuhan dan Hewan Asiatis dengan Australis
• Ethiopian, wilayah persebarannya meliputi benua Afrika, dari sebelah Selatan Gurun Sahara, Madagaskar dan Selatan Saudi Arabia
• Paleartik, wilayah persebarannya sangat luas meliputi hampir seluruh benua Eropa, Uni Sovyet, daerah dekat Kutub Utara sampai Pegunungan Himalaya, Kepulauan Inggris di Eropa Barat sampai Jepang, Selat Bering di pantai Pasifik, dan benua Afrika paling Utara
• Neartik, wilayah persebarannya meliputi kawasan Amerika Serikat, Amerika Utara dekat Kutub Utara, dan Greenland
• Netropical, wilayah persebarannya meliputi Amerika Tengah, Amerika .Selatan, dan sebagian besar Meksiko
• Untuk daerah oriental, daerah penyebaran biotiknya meliputi daerah Asia bagian selatan pegunungan Himalaya, India, Sri Langka, Semenanjung Melayu, Sumatera, Jawa, Kalirnantan, Sulawesi, dan Filipina
• Wilayah ini mencakup kawasan Australia, Selandia Baru, Irian, Maluku, pulau-pulau di sekitarnya, dan kepulauan di Samudera Pasifik

2. Kesimpulan

Garis Wallace dan Weber adalah garis khayal yang dibuat sebagai garis pemisah antara tumbuhan dan hewan Asiatis/Oriental dengan Australis. Garis ini dibuat oleh ahli ilmu alam yang bernama Alfred Wallace dari Inggris dan Weber dari Jerman. Dari pembuatan garis Wallace dan Weber tersebut, maka di Kepulauan Indonesia terdapat tiga golongan tumbuhan dan hewan. Yang pertama, yaitu Asiatis/Oriental yang berada di sebelah barat garis Wallace. Yang kedua, yaitu peralihan yang berada diantara garis Wallace dengan Weber. Yang ketiga, yaitu golongan Australis yang berada di sebelah timur garis Weber.

Selain itu, Wallace juga membagi wilayah penyebaran tumbuhan dan hewan di dunia ini menjadi enam wilayah, yaitu Australi, Oriental, Paleartik, Neartik, Neotropical, dan Ethiopical.

Daftar Rujukan

Fatchan, Ahmad. Tanpa tahun. Geografi Hewan. Universitas Negeri Malang: Malang

Maryati, Sri dkk. 2003. Buku Penuntun Biologi SMU. Erlangga: Jakarta

Mustofa, Bisri dan Setiyawan, Inung. 2007. Kamus Lengkap Geografi. Panji Pustaka: Yogyakarta.

http://nailulmaram-geo.blogspot.com/2008/09/peta-wilayah-penyebaran-tumbuhan-dan.html

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Wilayah Penyebaran Biotik di Dunia

Philip Lutley Sclater (4 November 1829 - 27 June 1913) In 1858, Sclater published a paper in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, setting up six zoological regions which he called the Palaearctic, Aethiopian, Indian, Australasian, Nearctic and Neotropical. These zoogeographic regions are still in use. He also developed the theory of Lemuria during 1864 to explain zoological coincidences relating Madagascar to India. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Sclater#Career

The qualitative approach stems from the zoogeographical classification of the global bird fauna into six large spatial regions or kingdoms by Sclater (1858), although this division was very generalized, with recognizable subregions and areas of endemism. Many refinements were made in later years; however, although the spatial delimitation of these zoogeographical regions and their hierarchical status is still disputed, they are as follows: Palaearctic*: Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor, the Himalayas and northern Asia. Nearctic: Canada, the U.S.A. and temperate Mexico. Neotropical: Central and South America. Afrotropical: Sub-Saharan Africa. Oriental: India to Indonesia. Australasian: Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea. (* The division of the Palaearctic into an eastern and a western subregion follows that given by de Lattin (1967), which approximates to the course of the Yenisey River in Russia.) http://tpittaway.tripod.com/sphinx/biog.htm

Terrestrial ecozone Ecozone Area Notes million square kilometres million square miles Palearctic 54.1 20.9 including the bulk of Eurasia and North Africa Nearctic 22.9 8.8 including most of North America Afrotropic 22.1 8.5 including Sub-Saharan Africa Neotropic 19.0 7.3 including South America and the Caribbean Australasia 7.6 2.9 including Australia, New Guinea, and neighbouring islands. The northern boundary of this zone is known as the Wallace line. Indo-Malaya 7.5 2.9 including the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia Oceania 1.0 0.39 including Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, New Zealand and some parts of Australia Antarctic 0.3 0.12 including Antarctica. 6 of the 8 ecozones   Nearctic   Palearctic   Afrotropic   Indomalaya   Australasia   Neotropic   Oceania and Antarctic ecozones not shown. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecozone

Lemuria Lemuria auf der Karte von Ernst Haeckel (aus einer spanischen Übersetzung) http://clockworker.de/cw/2011/04/04/lemuria-das-verlorene-paradies/ Map of Lemuria superimposed over the modern continents from William Scott-Elliot, The Story of Atlantis and Lost Lemuria. Map of Lemuria according to William Scott-Elliott 1896 Lemuria (ejaan Inggris: [lɨˈmjʊəriə]) adalah nama dari "daerah yang hilang" hipotetikal yang diduga terletak di samudera Hindia atau samudera Pasifik. Tidak terdapat formasi geologikal yang ditemukan dibawah samudera Hindia atau Pasifik yang berhubungan dengan Lemuria hipotetikal. Kumari Kandam kadang-kadang juga dihubungkan dengan Lemuria. http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemuria_%28benua%29 http://www.cibulka.net/petr/view.php?cisloclanku=2005050502 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_race http://www.eso-garden.com/index.php?/weblog/more/the_lost_lands_of_mu_and_lemuria/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemuria_%28continent%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Scott-Elliot

Kumari Kandam Kumari Kandam adalah kerajaan yang tenggelam yang kadang-kadang dibandingkan dengan Lemuria (hasil dari G. Devaneyan, Tamil: ஞானமுத்தன் தேவநேயன்). Epik Cilappatikaram dan Manimekalai mendeskripsikan kota Puhar yang tenggelam. Dravidia berasal dari daerah selatan yang kini adalah pantai India selatan yang tenggelam karena banjir. Terdapat berbagai klaim pengarang Tamil bahwa terdapat daratan yang besar menghubungkan Australia dengan pantai Tamil Nadu. http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumari_Kandam http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=13862 http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meru http://gunalava.blogspot.com/2011/06/kumari-kandam-lemuria.html

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KAWASAN WALLACEA 5 - Wallacea

Wallacea

The Wallace Line

The Wallace Line, named after the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace who explored the islands between 1854 and 1862 runs between Bali and Lombok, extending north through the Makassar Strait between Kalimantan (Borneo) and Sulawesi. On the western side of this line the animals are predominately of Asian origin (tigers, rhinoceros etc.). On the eastern side of the Wallace line the animals are of Australian descent with a lot of endemic species.

Another Naturalist, Weber was interested in how far Australian animals and plants spread into the Eurasian area. He noticed that he could draw a line between Sulawesi and Irian Jaya (= Indonesian part of Papua New Guinea) and between Timor and Australia. To the west, the fauna is more than 50 percent Oriental, while to the east of the line, fauna is more than 50 percent Australian in origin.

Today biogeographers think of the area between these lines more as a zone of transition. This zone, encapsulating Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara and Maluku, is called Wallacea. With animals and plants from both regions to draw upon, as well as a huge number of endemic species (= restricted to a particular geographic region and found nowhere else in the world), Wallacea is specially interesting for naturalists and divers alike.

Map of Wallacea with Wallace's, Weber's and Lydekker's line

Wallacea during the ice age

Nusa Tenggara is a good example to show what happens, if animals disperse over a chain of islands. Nusa Tenggara belongs to Wallacea and is the Indonesian name for the over 500 islands east of Bali, running from Lombok in the west to Timor in the east. Nusa Tenggara stretches over 1300 kilometer and lies just a few degrees south of the equator. The northern islands (Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores to Alor) are volcanic, the southern islands (Sumba, Savu, Roti and Timor) are uplifted coral limestone and sediment. There are over 40 volcanoes with half of them still active. 

Nusa Tenggara is divided from Bali by the Lombok Strait. Alfred Russel Wallace was here between 1854 and 1862 and while collecting birds he noticed, that while Bali shares nearly all its birds with Java (we now know, that it is about 97%), Lombok and Bali have much less birds in common (only 50%). 

Why is there such a distinct separation between the bird populations of Bali and Lombok which lies only about 25 km across the strait? During the ice age Bali was connected by a land corridor to Java. There was still a channel between Bali and Lombok. Some birds, which are good dipersers and had no problem to cross the gap, other bird stayed in Bali and never reached Lombok. As these bidrs dispersed further east across Nusa Tenggara they became more distinct from the mother population in Java. In Nusa Tenggara and the Maluku (Moluccs) there are 562 species of birds recorded, 144 of these are endemic (= found nowhere else). Timor, the island to the very east has the highest number of endemic species of any of the other islands of Nusa Tenggara. 

Bathymetric map of Bali, Lombok, Lombok strait and Sumbawa during the Pleistocene times (palaeogeographical reconstruction after Kitchener 1990): Dark green = dry land connecting the islands

Each further gap in the necklace like chain of islands which is Nusa Tenggara was a further obstacle to overcome. For example the Sape Strait between Sumbawa and Komodo or the Ombai Strait between Alor and Timor. Thus the species of birds that could successfully cross all these gaps dwindled and the birds staying in a particular habitat changed and adjusted and became endemic on that island.

Map of Nusa Teggara

An other example is Sulawesi (Celebes). In the west it is divided from Borneo and thus from the Asian mainland by the narrow but deep Makassar Strait. Even during the ice age with its low sea level Sulawesi was never actually connected to Borneo. Of the known Sulawesi fauna 62% of mammal, 27% of the bird 62% of reptile and 76% of amphibian species are endemic! For example there are marsupials (related to Australian kangaroos and possums) on the eastern islands, but they are not seen in Borneo which lies west of Sulawesi. These animals reached Sulawesi by hopping across landbridges during the ice age coming from Australia.

Map with migration routes between Australasia and Asia through the Wallacean islands during sea level changes due to the ice age (70'000 to 40'000 years ago) after Birdsell 1977.  
Dark green = dry land connecting the islands.

Wallacea - an underwater biodiversity hotspot

Personally I am always astonished at the number of species you can find on a single dive. Indonesia is said to contain 10 to 15 percent of the world's coral reefs. It is often assumed, that you have to travel to far away places for the best diving, but isolation often also means an impoverished fauna, because for the animals it is also difficult to reach these places! The islands of Sulawesi, Mollucas, Bali and Nusa Tenggara are ideally positioned in the Indonesian Throughflow (Arus Lintas Indonesia), a massive flow of water that passes from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean and deposits planktonic larvae in the waters of Wallacea. This results in a very high diversity of species. It is said that the photographer Rudie Kuiter catalogued in Maumere Bay (Flores) alone over 1200 species of fish including some new to science. 

 Map of the Indonesian Throughflow, current patterns in February

In 2002 researchers identified global priority areas for coral reef conservation and prepared a list with the world's top 10 coral reef hotspots. These are areas rich in marine species which are found only in small area. Therefore they are highly vulnerable to extinction.

The Wallacea hotspot encompasses some 346'782 km2 and covers Nusa Tenggara (Lombok, Sumbawa, Komodo, Flores, Sumba, Savu, Roti and Timor), the Mollucas and Sulawesi. Wallacea is divided from an other hotspot, Sundaland, by the Wallace's Line. The marine life in this region is astonishingly rich. The major threats to this hotspot are pollution from land-based sources, sediment pollution from logging and mining, intensive destructive fishing (dynamite fishing) and live reef fish trade (for the aquarium trade and for restaurants in South East Asia).

Sir Alfred Russel Wallace

The naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace is a very interesting historic person. Born in 1823 in England he actually earned his living by hunting and collecting wildlife for museum collections. He first visited the Amazon but in 1854, after a disastrous fire that destroyed his whole collection he started out from Singapore and spent a total of 8 years in Borneo, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, the Moluccs and the Aru islands (Irian Jaya). He recounted this interesting journey and the scientific conclusions he reached during his travels in his book "The Malay Archipelago". I can only recommend this book, it is a thoroughly readable account of his travels and gives you a lot of insight into this region. 

Already in 1858 Alfred Russel Wallace had written a thesis about the evolution of species "On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely From the Original Type". He outlined in a clear manner the origin of species by natural selection, explaining the tendency of species to diverge from a common ancestor. Wallace was a contemporary of Charles Darwin and he sent his paper for appraisal to him. At that time Darwin had already formulated his theory on the origin of species but hadn't published any papers. The two now made a joint public announcement, however with Wallace still away in distant Indonesia, it was Darwin's name which became later connected with the evolutionary theory.

Books: The Malay Archepelago by Alfred Russel Wallace - complete online version by Papua web / On the zoological geography of the Malay archipelago / On the Physical Geography of the Malay Archipelago / list of all books and articles of Alfred Russel Wallace / The song of the Dodo by David Quammen

http://www.starfish.ch/dive/Wallacea.html

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KAWASAN WALLACEA 4 - In the land of dragons

In the land of dragons

By LEE YU KIT

Dragons do exist in our world, and being up close with one in the Komodo National Park of Indonesia will send a primeval sort of fear coursing through you.

It was a cleft in the ocean floor that gave rise to the giant lizards. To the east of this cleft lay the shallow continental shelf and the lands of Asia. To the west, sundered for millenia, new forms of life emerged, and new hierarchies of primacy.

On a few of these remote islands, free from predators, an apex predator emerged in the unlikely form of a lizard, hearkening back to pre-historic times when giant reptiles stalked the planet.

Isolation wreaks strange changes — in some creatures, the phenomenon of dwarfism occurs, while in others, the reverse happens. And so it happened that the land lizards of these islands grew to become the largest of their kind on the planet. There is an intriguing alternative theory, however, that says these lizards are actually dwarves, compared to fossilised remains of a monster lizard that once roamed Australia.

A fishing boat navigating the coast of Flores Island where visitors
disembark to visit the Komodo National Park.

The cleft in the ocean became known as the Wallace line, named after the biologist Alfred Russel Wallace, who observed the dichotomy in flora and fauna between adjacent islands during his travels in the 19th century. The Wallace line is a virtual line running between Borneo and Sulawesi down to the strait between Bali and Lombok.

The islands of what has been called Wallacea, encompassing all of what is now Nusa Tenggara of Indonesia, have endemic life found nowhere else and fauna more closely associated with Australasia than with Asia.

Although he was a prolific collector of specimens and a keen observer, Wallace — curiously enough — never once mentioned the dragons that dwell here.

Their fearsome reputation eventually led to a Dutch expedition that revealed them to the West in the early 20th century. This expedition supposedly inspired the idea of King Kong — a giant ape found on a remote island where prehistoric monsters flourished.

Today, we know these giant lizards by the name of Komodo dragons.

Komodo dragons occupy only a few islands — Komodo, Rinca, Gili Motang, Gili Dasami, and the northern coast of the island of Flores. An endangered species since the early 20th century, they were the reason the Komodo National Park was established in 1980. It was declared a World Heritage site in 1986.

The Komodo dragon is considered endangered

The islands of Nusa Tenggara lay like scattered shards of quartz against the velvety sheen of the sea in the late afternoon. Cratered with the massive calderas of dormant volcanoes, with silver arcs of shimmering beach, the islands are rocky and brown, the result of hot, desiccating winds from the Australian continent.

There is still a primeval feel to this part of the world, the sense of space and openness undiluted by tall buildings and the other accoutrements of modernity. We saw yachts sitting in the shelter of Labuan Bajo harbour on the western end of Flores, with bald tussocked islands for backdrop. From here, it was two hours by slow boat to neighbouring Rinca island, the closest place where the dragons can be seen.

The boat coughed and sputtered along the coastline. Except for a few scattered settlements, the coast was empty. We passed stands of mangrove trees, precipitous slopes of crumbling rock, voluptuous hills covered by a thin layer of brown grass and pockets of vegetation that faded into the vast hinterland of the island.

A strong breeze ruffled the water surface and rattled the boat as we approached Rinca. The wind died as we came into a quiet inlet ringed with mangrove trees. In the distance, some two to three hours away by boat, reared the craggy silhouette of Komodo Island.

I disembarked at a wooden jetty where a sign welcomed the visitor to Loh Buaya of the Komodo National Park.

It was suddenly hot and stifling after the stiff breeze of the open sea. A narrow footpath skirted the mangrove forest and led into a broad open valley, at the end of which was a cluster of huts. This was the headquarters of the national park on Rinca, where I registered and obtained the services of a park ranger.

Besides the Komodo dragons, a number of other interesting animals inhabit Rinca. One of these is the megapode, a terrestrial bird which constructs large mound nests from vegetation, in which their eggs are hatched from the heat of the decaying organic matter. Megapodes are only found to the east of the Wallace line.

Komodo dragons make burrows in the ground for their dens

Outside the huts was a long beam, on which were hung a number of bleached buffalo skulls. The wild buffalo is the largest animal on Rinca island, and the skulls were remains of animals felled by the dragons.

The ranger assigned to me lived his whole life on Rinca. There was a single village on the island, and the locals had taken to piling large rocks over new graves to prevent the dragons from digging up the corpses. Komodo dragons have a very keen sense of smell, and can supposedly detect scents from as far as 10km away.

The swinging side to side movement and the flicking out of a yellow, forked tongue is to “taste” the air to detect prey.

The ranger, Mansur, was a soft-spoken man who was armed only with a forked wooden staff. He didn’t have any special advice, only to stay a safe distance from the animals and not to wander off the path. Since Komodo dragons can outrun a human being, I wondered what we would do if one decided to make a dash at us.

The remains of buffaloes that fell victim to Komodo dragons

We didn’t have to go far to see one — there were a couple lazing in the shade between two of the raised huts.

Up close, the Komodo dragon evokes a primal reaction that reaches into and churns your stomach. Animal fear takes over when you’re this close to something that considers you their food.

The sight of that enormous lizard, with its coat the texture of chain-mail armour, blunt head reminiscent of a huge snake, hooded eyes, thick legs with sickle-shaped, wicked looking black claws and muscular tail as long as the rest of the animal almost made me weak at the knees.

I was looking at a couple of adults. They can grow up to 2m-3m in length and live for up to 50 years. They were inert and completely ignored us.

Mansur took me for a short hike on a footpath. We climbed a small hill, at the top of which was a spectacular view of the sea and the islands beyond, and also of the rolling topology of Rinca. Dark ribbons of trees inhabited the deeper, wetter valleys, but on exposed slopes was brown grassland.

In contrast to the stillness of the valley below, it was windy up on the hill. Mansur grabbed my hand and gestured. No more than 10ft (3m) away, and disguised so cunningly by the grass that I had completely missed it, was a mature dragon looking in our direction.

It had been attracted by the wind flapping a piece of loose clothing, which I quickly suppressed. Mansur seemed unfazed, but I was not. We continued our walk along the footpath, Mansur pointing out dried gray pellets that were the droppings of the dragon.

At the bottom of the hill, we came to a small trickle of water in a stand of trees. A big wild buffalo was drinking at the stream, and just nearby were the bones of another buffalo — a ribcage and portions of the spine. It was the remains of a Komodo dragon meal.

I asked Mansur if people hunted the Komodo dragon for food.

He smiled and replied, “Orang tak makan dia, dia makan orang (People don’t eat it, it eats people)”.

Although very rare, there have been a few cases of humans being attacked by Komodo dragons. Although a carrion feeder, the dragons will ambush prey. Even if an animal manages to escape from the bite of a dragon, it is only a temporary respite.

The toxin in the bite is enough to kill the prey, and the dragons always come back later or trail their prey for the feast. Besides big prey such as buffalo, wild pigs and deer, the Komodo will also hunt smaller animals such as monkeys and even juvenile dragons.

A little farther on, we came across ground burrows made by the dragons, and nearby was a mating couple, engaged in a rather brutal coition. Males outnumber females by a ratio of 3:1 on Rinca, with a total population of over 1,000 on the island.

It is estimated that there are 4,000-5,000 Komodo dragons in existence, and they are considered endangered due to a variety of threats, including the very low numbers of breeding females.

I left the island with a sense of relief, thankful for the wide open spaces of the sea and the liberating breeze. Komodo dragons are not cuddly or cute and not easy to love, but one cannot help but admire its domination in such a harsh and arid environment.

I also felt sorry for the other animals who had to share their habitat with this predator.

http://www.world-heritage-site.com/2009/07/27/in-the-land-of-dragons/

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KAWASAN WALLACEA 3 - Taman Nasional Komodo

Taman Nasional Komodo

PHYSICAL FEATURES

Komodo is one of the long arc of islands running from Sumatra towards Irian Jaya along the line of a tectonic subduction between the Sunda and Sahul shelfs. It is the largest (34,000 ha) of a small archipelago between the larger islands of Sumbawa and Flores. The topography is generally steep and rugged owing to its volcanic origin and is dominated by a range of rounded north-south oriented hills between 500-600m high. Relief is steepest to the north-east, notably in the peak of Gunung (Mount) Toda Klea which is precipitous and crowned by deep, rocky dry gullies.

The coastline is irregular with little flat ground, numerous bays, beaches and inlets separated by headlands, often with sheer cliffs falling vertically into the sea. To the east, across the Lantah Strait, Padar is a small, narrow island which rises steeply from surrounding plains to 200-300m. Further east, the second largest island in the Park, Rinca (20,000 ha), is separated from Flores by a very narrow strait. Gili Motong is a much smaller island to its south-east.

The topography of the southern part of Rinca is dominated by the Doro Ora massif (667m); to the north the steep-sided peaks of Gunung Tumbah and Doro Raja are 187m and 351m respectively. As with Komodo and Padar, the coastline is rugged and rocky although sandy beaches are found in sheltered semi-enclosed bays. The mainland sections of the Park, Mbeliling – Ngorang forest and Way Wuul Mburak Park, lie on the rugged coast of north-western Flores where surface fresh water is more abundant than on the other islands. The islands were probably formed by vulcanism in the Eocene era though the west side of Komodo preserves Jurassic rocks. Deposits are generally resistant volcanics, volcanic ash, conglomerates and coral formations raised by tectonic movement. There are frequent tremors though no active volcanoes. The soils are rocky and shallow (Sumardja,1981; PHKA, 2004).

The seas around the islands are among the most productive in the world due to upwelling and a high degree of oxygenation resulting from the strong tidal currents which flow through the Sape Straits to the west (Kvalvagnaes & Halim,1979). The marine site has sea mounts, semi-enclosed bays and seagrass beds north of Rinca Island. Fringing and patch coral reefs are extensive and best developed in the west- and north-facing areas, the most intact being on the north-east coast of Komodo and the south-west coasts of Rinca and Padar.

VEGETATION

The location just to the east of Wallace’s line gives the islands a transitional biota between the Oriental and Australasian regions. The predominant vegetation, covering some 70% of the Park, is dry open grass-woodland savannah, mainly of anthropogenic origin, Most of its species are xerophytic with water-retaining adaptions and many are fire-adapted. There are also patches of tropical rainforest, deciduous monsoon forest and mangrove. The dominant savannah tree is lontar palm Borassus Page 2 of 8 flabellifer, which occurs individually or in scattered stands.

Grasses include 

• Eulalia leschenaultiana, 
• Setaria adhaerens, 
• Chloris barbata, 
• Heteropogon contortus and, 

in the higher areas, 

• Themeda spp. including T. frondosa and T. triandra. 

Tropical deciduous monsoon forest occurs along the bases of hills and on valley bottoms, characterised by trees such as 

• Sterculia foedita, 
• Oroxylum indicum, 
• Tamarindus indica, 
• Zizyphus horsfeldi, 
• Schleichera oleosa, 
• Cassia javanica, 
• Murraya paniculata, 
• Diospyros javanica, 
• Harrisonia brownii and 
• Piliostigma malabaricum. 

The forest lacks the predominance of Australian-derived trees and flora found further to the east on Timor (Sumardja, 1981).

A quasi cloud-forest occurs above 500m on pinnacles and ridges. Although covering only small areas on Komodo Island, it harbours a relict flora of many endemic species (Auffenburg, 1980). It is characterised by 

• moss-covered rocks, 
• rattan, 
• bamboo groves 
• and many trees generally absent at lower elevations. 

These include 

• Terminalia zollingeri, 
• Podocarpus neriifolius, 
• Uvaria rufa, 
• Ficus drupacea, 
• Callophyllum spectabile, 
• Mischocarpus sundaicus, 
• Colona kostermansiana and 
• Glycosmis pentaphylla. 

The three main coastal marine vegetation types are 

• mangroves, 
• sea grasses and 
• reef-building coralline algae.

The mangrove forest occurs in sheltered bays on 

• Komodo, 
• Padar and 
• Rinca. 

There are 19 species dominated by 

• Rhizophora stylosa, 
• R. mangle and 
• Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, with 
• Avicennia marina 

in large stands on the landward side (Sumardja, 1981; PHKA, 2004).

Other coastal vegetation includes pioneering beach plants like 

• Ipomoea pes caprae. 

Due to the dry climate, plant species diversity is relatively low, with only about 102 recorded species (PHKA, n.d.). Extensive sea grass beds of 

• Thalassia hemprichii and 
• Zostera capensis 

occur off the north end of Rinca Island (Kvalvagnaes & Halim, 1979)

FAUNA

The transitional nature of the biota has resulted in the presence of 

• many mammals from Asia and 
• several reptiles and 
• birds from the Australasian bio-region. 

Compared with the rich marine life the terrestrial fauna is small. 

The Park is best known for the Komodo monitor Varanus komodoensis (VU), the world’s largest lizard, which can grow to 3m long. The population on Komodo island, was estimated in 2001 by a team from the Zoological Society of San Diego, at 2259 individuals. An earlier estimate of about 5.700 was said to be distributed over the islands of 

• Komodo (2,900), 
• Rinca (900), 
• Gili Motong (<100) and 
• in coastal regions of western and northern Flores.

The species was last seen on Padar in 1975 (Kvalvagnaes & Halim,1979). Its favoured habitat is tropical deciduous forest, and, to a lesser extent, open savannah. It is carnivorous, eating occasional large meals when it eats all of its prey, and is well adapted to living without water (Auffenburg, 1981). The rest of the herpetofauna is rich, with 12 land snakes including 

• the common cobra Naja naja sputatrix in disturbed land, 
• Russel’s pit viper Vipera russelli and 
• green tree viper Trimeresurus albolabris, 

9 species of 

• skink Scincidae, 
• geckoes Gekkonidae, 
• limbless lizards Dibamidae and 
• monitor lizards.

There are several amphibian species in the cloud forest: 

• Sphenomorphus schlegeli, 
• S. striolatus and 
• the frog Oreophryne jeffersoniana. 

Savannah species include 

• Emoia similis, and 
• Asian bullfrog Kaloula baleata. 

Tropical deciduous forest supports reptiles such as 

• Sphenomorphus florensis, 
• Trimeresurus albolabris, 
• Dendrelaphis pictus and 
• Lycodon aulicus.

(Auffenburg, 1980).

The mammalian fauna is characteristic of the Wallacean zoogeographic zone, with relatively few terrestrial species, including 

• several bats, 
• the endemic Komodo rat Komodomys rintjanus (VU), 
• crab-eating macaque Macaca fascicularis and 
• palm civet Paradoxurus hermaphroditus lehmanni. 

Introduced species, such as 

• the Timor deer Cervus timorensis, 
• the main prey of the lizard, and 
• wild boar Sus scrofa, 

as well as feral domestic animals including 

• horses and 
• water buffalo Bubalis bubalis, 

form important prey species for the Komodo monitor. 

Some 72 species of birds have been recorded, including 

• yellow-crested cockatoo Cacatua sulphurea (CR), 
• noisy friar bird Philemon buceroides and 
• dusky and orange-footed scrub fowl Megapodius freycinet and M. reinwardti.

Indonesia is unique in that marine flora and fauna from both Indian and Pacific oceans intermingle through gaps in the island chain. In fact the local straits are on a migration route for whales. In the Park the marine zone covers 60% of the area and its biodiversity is very high. It has a wide variety of depths and bottom conditions and the upwelling of nutrient-rich water from deeper areas of the archipelago results in a rich reef ecosystem. The marine life includes 

• foraminifera, 
• cnidara, 
• ascidians, 
• worms, 
• crustaceans, 
• molluscs, 
• cartilaginous and 
• bony fishes, 

marine reptiles, and mammals including 16 species of 

• cetaceans, 
• ten species of dolphin, 
• sharks, 
• manta rays, 
• dugong Dugong dugon (VU) and 
• five species of turtle.

These include 

• blue whale Balaenoptera musculus (EN), 
• fin whale B. physalis (EN), 
• humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae (VU) and 
• sperm whale Physeter catodon (VU), also 
• leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea (CR), 
• hawksbill turtle Eretmochelys imbricata (CR), 
• olive ridley turtle Lepidochelys olivacea (EN) and 
• green turtle Chelonia mydas (VU). 

Species of high commercial value are 

• sea cucumbers, 
• Holothuria, 
• Napoleon wrasse Cheilinus undulatus, and groupers 

(Mous, 2002; PHKA, 2004).

CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT

Komodo National Park (KNP) was set up as a Technical Implementation Unit of PHKA. Its purposes are to protect the Komodo dragon and its habitat, the terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems and their species, the exploited reef fish and invertebrates and surrounding fishing grounds; it exists also to promote sustainable use of the natural resources for tourism, fisheries, education, and research. Key regulations for the management of KNP are 

• the Act on Conservation of Biological Resources and their Ecosystems, 
• the Fisheries Law, 
• the Government Regulation concerning Natural Resources Tourism in the Use Zone of National Parks, 
• Community Forest Parks and Natural Resources Parks, 
• Government Regulation on Conservation Areas, and 
• the Government of District Manggarai Regulation on Fishing Gear, plus 
• the Ministry of Forestry Decree on Zoning.

The Park is split into seven zones:

1. Core, 
2. wilderness, 
3. tourism, 
4. traditional use, 
5. pelagic use, 
6. research and training, 
7. traditional settlement. 

The intensive use zones contain the development of the villages within enclaves and the tourist and administrative facilities; the wilderness zone provides for limited tourism such as trails and camps; and the core zone is strictly protected with access restricted to authorised PHKA and research personnel (FAO, 1977). The sanctuaries are on the southern half of Komodo and Rinca Islands and on Gili Montong Island.

The Park headquarters are located at Labuan Bajo and there are six permanently staffed guard posts within the Park, though major decisions are taken in the Ministry of Forestry in Jakarta. Management activities have focused on enforcement and the provision of tourist facilities. Recommendations for the development of a buffer zone to provide resources for the village enclaves, the expansion of regional and local development and conservation awareness programs were made by Sumardja in 1981.

During designation of the Biosphere Reserve, local communities were involved in the decision-making. In 1996, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) established a local field office to implement a coastal and Page 5 of 8 marine conservation program in partnership with the PHKA. 

This included 

• enforcement, 
• alternative livelihood development, 
• community awareness, 
• constituency building, 
• monitoring and research, and 
• the development of funding through eco-tourism. 

In 2000 the Government and PHKA endorsed a 25-Year Management Plan for the Park by The Nature Conservancy.

This again proposed extension of the boundaries and buffer zone of the Park. Implementation of a legal ban on destructive fishing and of a weekly marine patrol program has resulted in an 80 percent decrease in blast fishing: reef monitoring has indicated that even heavily targeted reefs are now continuing to recover from this damage (Mous, 2002).

http://www.world-heritage-site.com/2011/04/19/komodo-in-komodo-national-park/

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Sejarah Penemuan Komodo 3 - Giant Lizards

Giant Lizards

A Komodo Dragon avoids the hot, tropical sun by finding shade under a tree.  

(Copyright Lee Krystek, 1998)

You pause from hiking down the mountain to enjoy the sunset. Below lies a serene tropical beach and above a cloud forest. Around you are hills covered with savanna. In the ravines between the hills are monsoon forests. An amazing range of environments, you think to yourself, for an island only twenty miles long and ten miles wide.

Suddenly from the thick grass nearby a buck bolts and runs across your path. You are startled, but soon recover. After all, it is only a deer, and in a few seconds your heart rate drops back to normal. Still, something is not right. You have the feeling you are being watched. A feeling of dread. The hairs on the back of your neck suddenly stand on end. But you don't see anything.

Then you notice a smell. Unpleasant. Very unpleasant. You hear a sound in the nearby grass. You turn to look, and then it happens. The grass flies apart and something comes at you. Reptilian with cold, dead eyes. It's big. Very big. Twice your size from its ugly head to its massive tail and more than your weight. The creature's jaws open to display a set of inch-long serrated teeth dripping with deadly, infectious saliva.

The speed of this monster is incredible. Before you can even move it is upon you, its wide mouth biting down on your thigh...

What is this? A scene from the next film installment of Jurassic Park? No, the above can really happen and has really happened on the small Indonesian Island of Komodo. A bit of remote land where dragons dwell. They are the largest lizards in the world, the Komodo Dragons.

Cryptozoological Surprise

The discovery of the Komodo Dragons (Varanus komodoensis) is one of the cryptozoological surprises of the 20th century. Before 1912 the species was completely unknown and large lizards were thought to be extinct. Then, in that year, a party of pearl fishermen anchored at an almost entirely-unknown isle in a chain of islands called the Lesser Sundas. The fishermen brought back stories of an enormous, prehistoric creature living there. The island's name was Komodo.

An expedition followed from the Buitenzorg Zoological Museum in Java. A report about the dragons was published, but received little attention in the years leading up to World War I. It wasn't until 1926 that an expedition from the American Museum of Natural History, under the leadership of W. Douglas Burden, traveled to this remote island to further investigate the dragons and, if possible, bring some back alive.

The expedition discovered that the stories were true. The largest of these lizards measured over ten feet from nose to tail. The males were the top predator on the island, capable of killing a water buffalo several times its weight. The Burden expedition, with considerable difficulty, managed to bring home twelve dead specimens and two live lizards.

Venom or Toxic Bacteria? For years scientists thought that the Komodo Dragon did not poison its victims, but that its fearsome bite infected the animal with septic bacteria that slowly weakened and killed it. A recent study by led by Dr. Bryan Fry from the University of Melbourne, however, showed that the Dragon does have venomous glands in its mouth. The venom keeps the victim's blood from clotting at the wound leading to a drop in blood pressure. The loss of blood and the lower the blood pressure weaken the animal and cause it to eventually stop moving so the Dragon can safely approach and finish it. Fry believes that this specialized bite and venom shortens the contact the Dragon has with its victim allowing it to take much larger prey than might otherwise be expected.

The Komodo dragons still live on Komodo today and have also been discovered on several neighboring islands. Though there are as many dragons alive today as in 1912, they are still considered an endangered species because they have such a small habitat that an ecological disaster, like a single volcanic eruption, might wipe them out.  

Dangerous?

Are the dragons dangerous to humans?

Yes. A Swiss tourist who sat down to relax while the rest of his tour group went onward was attacked and eaten by a dragon. All that was left was a piece of his camera. In March of 2009 an Indonesian fisherman was killed when he trespassed one of the remote islands in the Dragon's habitat in search of fruit. Though incidents are only few in number, that might be because the dragons live in such isolated locations. The Island of Komodo has only 800 human inhabitants and double the number of dragons. Most of the other islands where the dragons live have no permanent human residents at all.

The dragons can eat up to 80 percent of their own weight in a single sitting. Their attack strategy is to wait in ambush, then rush forward and tear a single large bite from the victim. The victim soon collapses due to blood loss. Though most Komodo dragons prefer wild bore or deer as their meals, they will try to attack and consume almost every other animal they can find, including other dragons (Interestingly enough for reasons scientists still don't understand, the dragons are not susceptible to infections from the bites of other Komodos).

 

When the first expeditions landed on the island they recorded the largest male dragons to have a top weight of around 300 pounds. More recent studies have indicated that this figure is high,. probably due to the a substantial amount of undigested food in those specimens' stomachs. A more typical weight for the largest dragons is probably around 160 pounds. Though the Komodo's can see fairly well, they do most of their hunting based on smell. Also a dragon can detect the smell of carrion from a distance of several miles when the wind is right. Although they will hunt when they have to, these giant lizards are more than happy to consume an already dead animal when they come across one.

 

Komodos are very fast for short sprints and can scramble up a hill as fast as a man can run on level ground. They have huge curved claws and teeth similar in shape to a Tyrannosaurus Rex's. Like a snake they can stretch their jaws to swallow large chunks of their victims. The Komodo's defense includes a thick skin with heavy folds that make the lizard look as if it is wearing a suit of chain mail armor. They are also one of the smartest lizards and their eyes seem to hold a primal, but clear intelligence.

Kulit komodo

Cold Blooded Killer

Why are Komodos the top predators on the island instead of an animal like the tiger? Scientists think that it has to do with the creatures's metabolism. The Komodo Dragon, like most reptiles, is cold-blooded (scientists continue to debate whether dinosaurs were cold-blooded). This means it doesn't maintain a constant body temperature, but is dependent on the sun to warm it up enough in the morning so it can take on vigorous activity.

Tigers are warm-blooded and maintain a constant body temperature at all times. This allows them to be active no matter what the temperature or time of day.

Animals who are warm-blooded burn much more energy than cold-blooded ones. This means they must eat more. Scientists think that islands like Komodo are just too small and have too few prey animals to feed a population of warm-blooded, high-energy tigers, but can support the lower energy demands of the cold-blooded dragons.

Even Bigger Lizards

So are the Komodos the largest lizards out there? Fossil finds in Queensland, Australia, indicate that the Komodo Dragon had a much larger cousin, Megalania prisca, in the prehistoric past. Megalania was more than twenty feet in length and weighed more than 1000 pounds. Though it sounds like a dinosaur, it was a giant lizard. Unlike the dinosaurs, Megalania lived at a time when humans were present and undoubtedly Megalania consumed some Homo sapiens.

 

This gigantic lizard lived during the Pleistocene period. It made its debut about 1.5 million years ago and disappeared around 19,000 years ago. Or did it?

There have been sightings of large lizards in the Australian outback for some time. In July 1979, cryptozoologist Rex Gilroy was called to a freshly-plowed field by a farmer. Across the field were 30 or so tracks from what looked like an enormous lizard. While most of the tracks had been ruined by rain, Gilroy was able to make a plaster cast of one that had been preserved. The footprint looked surprisingly like something that might have been made by a Megalania.

Other incidents include a farmer who saw a lizard moving along the edge of his field. Using a set of fence posts as a guide, the farmer estimated the animal's length at twenty to twenty-five feet. In 1961 three woodcutters were scared by a lizard they thought to be twenty feet long.

The largest known Australian lizard is Varanus giganteus, a relative of Megalania and the Komodos. At six feet long and with a weight of thirty to forty pounds, though, it seems too small to explain these reports.

So are there giant lizards still out in the wilds of Australia? The only way of knowing for sure is for somebody to bring one back, dead or alive. The Komodo dragon surprised science once with its existence. Perhaps the Megalania will too.

Copyright Lee Krystek, 2010

 http://www.unmuseum.org/bigliz.htm

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KOMODO DRAGONS

1. The scene takes place on a __________________ beach with hills around covered with____________.
2. The island is________________ miles long and ____________miles wide.
3. At first, you don’t see _______________, then you notice a very _______________ smell.
4. And you see the creature with _________-long teeth dripping with deadly _________saliva.
5. This has really happened on the small ______________ of Komodo in ________________
6. The dragons are the _________________lizards in the world.
7. Before 1912 the dragons were completely ___________and thought to be __________________.
8. Pearl __________brought back stories of an enormous _____________creature living on the island.
9. In1926,W.Douglas ______________led an expedition from the American Museum of _______________.
10. He wanted to bring some ________________back ________________.
11. The largest lizards were over _______________feet long and capable of killing a water_____________
12. The Burden expedition brought home 12 ______________specimens and _________live lizards.
13. The dragons still ____________on the island and are still considered an _______________species.
14. Dragons are _______________to humans: a __________tourist was __________and eaten by a dragon.
15. The island of Komodo has ____________________inhabitants and _____________dragons.
16. Dragons prefer ______________bore or deer but can also eat other ___________________.
17. The largest male dragons can weigh ___________pounds but a more typical is probably around _______________ pounds.
18. Komodos are very____________ for short sprints and can run as fast as a ________________.
19. They have huge curved _____________and teeth similar to a ___________________Rex’s.
20. The Komodo dragon is ___________-blooded like most reptiles , so it is _______________ on the sun to warm up its temperature.
     

Webquest réalisé par J.L Normand, Collège de Valdahon
http://catice.ac-besancon.fr/anglais/pdf/Microsoft_Word__KOMODO_DRAGONS.pdf

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Megalania

Megalania
Klasifikasi ilmiah
Kerajaan: Animalia Filum: Chordata Kelas: Sauropsida Ordo: Squamata Upaordo: Scleroglossa Infraordo: Platynota Superfamili: Varanoidea Famili: Varanidae Genus: Megalania Spesies: M. prisca
Nama binomial
Megalania prisca (Richard Owen, 1859)

Megalania adalah spesies biawak raksasa yang telah punah. Spesies ini merupakan salah satu megafauna yang ada di Australia selatan, dan telah menghilang sekitar 40.000 tahun yang lalu.

Deskripsi

Panjang tengkorak Megalania diperkirakan 76 cm. Panjang badan Megalania panjangnya 3,5 meter. Sementara ada yg ditemukan sepanjang 7 meter.

Megalania yang selamat

Di Papua Nugini, dan di Australia ada beberapa laporan Megalania yang selamat.

http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalania

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