• Question: is a komodo dragon a evolved form of a lizard dinosaur

    Asked by 549evnb35 to Adam, Emily, Thad, Thomas on 12 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Thomas Clements

      Thomas Clements answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      No, sadly not.

      Whilst both dinosaurs and komodo dragons are reptiles, actually the komodo belongs to a group of reptiles called lizards. When dinosaurs went extinct, lizards managed to survive the mass extinction and are still around today.

      The only dinosaurs that still live today are birds.

    • Photo: Thaddeus Aid

      Thaddeus Aid answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      Hi,

      Komodo Dragons are really neat aren’t they? I believe they are the largest lizard in the world and they have a type of poison bite!

      So where did they come from? Komodo Dragons are a type of lizard, which is distinct from dinosaurs (I know that sucks) but they do share a common ancestor way back in the past millions and millions of years ago. So the Komodo Dragon is more closely related to the dinosaurs than we are.

      If you want to see the last survivors of the dinosaurs you need to look no further than modern birds. Birds descend from a particular type of dinosaur and I always love thinking about that when I am eating chicken nuggets. Chicken nuggets are dinosaur nuggets.

      I hope that answers your question!

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