The Land Crocodiles of Komodo
Stories of giant 'land crocodiles' on a remote Indonesian island turned out to be true.
What was reported
People on Komodo, Flores and nearby islands had long known a huge lizard, and sailors and pearl divers passed on stories of 'land crocodiles' several metres long. In 1910 a Dutch officer on Flores, Lieutenant van Steyn van Hensbroek, went to investigate and obtained a specimen.
In 1912 Peter Ouwens, director of the zoological museum at Buitenzorg (now Bogor), described the animal for science as Varanus komodoensis.
Explanations offered
The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard, growing to around 3 metres. Its story is often cited as proof that rumours of large unknown animals are sometimes right, though early reports of lizards 7 metres long were never confirmed.
- When
- Confirmed in 1910
- Where
- Komodo Island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
- Witnesses
- Islanders, then a Dutch colonial officer
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.