JAKARTA, Indonesia — An Indonesian park
ranger escaped an attack by a Komodo dragon, the world’s largest lizard
species, when his colleagues heard his cries for help and drove the
reptile away.
Marcelinus Subanghadir was
outside his hut on Komodo Island late Monday when a nearly 7-foot-long
dragon grabbed hold of his right foot, Komodo
National Park chief Tamen Sitorus said.
The
dragon had Subanghadir’s foot clamped in its shark-like, serrated teeth
until fellow rangers heard his screams and drove it off with wooden
clubs, Sitorus said.
Subanghadir, 34, suffered deep lacerations and was recovering at a hospital on nearby Bali.
Komodo
dragons can be found in the wild only on the eastern Indonesian islands
of Komodo, Padar and Rinca. The lizards — thought to number fewer than
4,000 — can grow longer than 10 feet and weigh 150 pounds.
An 8-year-old boy was killed by one of the lizards in 2007 on Komodo Island.
— Associated Press
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Photo: Komodo dragons bask in the sun outside a park ranger hut on Rinca Island in Indonesia in 2009. Credit: Dita Alangkara / Associated Press