I’m serious, there are actual, scary dragons out there and they live in Indonesia:
I’m of course referring to Komodo dragons from the Komodo National Park, a UNESCO site since 1991. Komodos are scary creatures; they routinely take down much larger prey with just a few bites, letting the virulent bacteria in their saliva do most of the work for them. Their metabolism is so slow that they can eat as few as 12 meals a year. They can weigh as much as 70 kilograms, which is a pretty big lizard.
Shinta used these very appropriate Year of the Dragon stamps from this year. The dragons pictured here look quite a bit more fearsome than the Komodo, but are, of course, fictional. Many thanks to shinta for all the lovely Indonesian UNESCO cards!
The Komodo Dragon at the zoo here in Pittsburgh died over the weekend. He was very, very gentle and even posed with children. I was sad to read he had been sick and the operation to save him actually resulted in his death.