Surabaya zoo welcomes 32 newborn Komodo dragons

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 03/23/2009 3:18 PM

Baby komodo dragons are seen inside a terrarium at Surabaya Zoo in Surabaya, Monday. All the 32 newborn Komodo dragons are hatched in the last two weeks in the most successful komodo breeding year ever at the zoo. (AP/Trisnadi)

An East Java zoo is welcoming the arrival of 32 newborn Komodo dragons.

Surabaya Zoo spokesman Agus Pangkat says the endangered lizards - believed to number less than 4,000 in the wild - all hatched in the last two weeks. He says 14 eggs are still under observation.

He is calling it the Komodo's most successful breeding year ever at the zoo.

He said Monday the giant reptiles have been kept at the zoo since the early 1980s, but the newborns brought their total from 34 to 66.

Komodo dragons can grow up to 10 feet long (three meters) and weigh as much as 150 pounds (70 kilograms). They have a bite that can be deadly and can only be found in the wild on the eastern Indonesian islands of Komodo, Padar and Rinca.

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