Australia's Queensland zoo's Komodo Dragon acts more like dog than land crocodile

A five-year-old Komodo Dragon in Queensland, Australia has been described to be more like a puppy dog than a man-eating land crocodile.

Port Douglas-based Hartley's Crocodile Adventures zoo operations manager Michael O'Brien told Xinhua that the 1.9 metre long reptile named Kozzie was an intelligent lizard that had genuinely took interest on his surroundings and was not a threat to humans.

"When we work in his enclosure he tries to climb on you and that is very un-reptile like," O'Brien said.

"He seeks out human attention," he added.

O'Brien believes that the daily contact that Kozzie has received with the zoo keepers in the past has made it impossible for him to look at humans as food.

"It's very pretty rare occurrence for Komodo's (to eat humans) as their diet includes goats and water buffalos," O'Brien said.

"Kozzie has never bitten anyone and has acclimatise being around people."

"He recognised that his food are rats, beef, chicken and not its keepers that he wants to make a meal of, which is good," he said.

Kozzie, along with his seven brothers and sisters were imported into Australia five years ago from a Los Angeles zoo.

"We have had Kozzie for three years and we are planning a premium product in the next few weeks which will allow the public to interact him," he said, adding that new attraction will be opened to children above 10 years of age.

The experience follows through a successful program of another outlet in which another Komodo Dragon based at the Australian Reptile Park in New South Wales has been interacting with the general public for several months now without facing any issues.

"It's one of Kozzie's brother's and they have been doing it for a while," he said.

Komodo dragons which are native to Indonesia are capable of reaching lengths of up to 3.1 metres.

The reptiles are protected under Indonesian law with the government setting up the Komodo National Park in 1980 to protect the animal further from extinction.

Also known as land crocodiles, these carnivores are known to live as long as 59 years of age.

However, there is a dark side to the reptile as in the past there have been reports of its attacking and eating humans.

In 2007, a Komodo dragon killed an 8-year-old boy on Komodo Island.

It was reported that the hungry murderous lizard had lunged onto the boy when he went behind a bush to use the bathroom.

O'Brien said although Kozzie seemed friendly towards his zookeepers, they were still aware that he was still a reptile that could retaliate and always had their guard up in case of an unwanted situation in the future. Endit