Here there be dragons Mar 6, 2021

Here there be dragons

Welcome to Indonesia’s Komodo National Park, founded in 1980 to protect the Komodo dragon—a monitor lizard that evolved in this insular environment to be much larger "scale" than its fellows. Found only on the islands we see here—Komodo and Padar—and a handful of others nearby, it"s the biggest lizard walking the Earth today. Not only walking but sprinting: Since adult Komodo dragons often prey on swift Timor deer, you"ll sometimes see a dragon in a dead sprint after its would-be dinner, reaching up to 13 miles an hour.

© Thrithot/Adobe Stock

palette

Today in History

Mar 6, 2018Celebrating National Dentist Day
Mar 6, 2019Dreaming of the Tyrrhenian Sea
Mar 6, 2020Hello, harbinger of spring
Mar 6, 2020Hello, harbinger of spring
Mar 6, 2022Great cormorants
Mar 6, 2023Icelandic horses, Iceland
Mar 6, 2024Wahclella Falls, Oregon
Mar 6, 2025Desert bighorn sheep in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
Mar 6, 2026The Wave, Vejle, Denmark

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Apr 17, 2024Black bear cub emerging into spring
Oct 25, 2025Martimoaapa Mire Reserve, Finland
May 24, 2022European Day of Parks
Dec 22, 2018Night of the ‘Cold Moon’
Aug 4, 2021A special day for a special cat
Jun 21, 2019Ode to the sun
Jan 8, 2020Take the stairs
Mar 1, 2020Casting a vote for women s history
Jul 27, 2024Vineyards in the Mosel Valley, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Jan 7, 2024Old Rock Day
Dec 26, 2019It s Slovenia s Independence and Unity Day
Apr 6, 2021On the rebirth of the Olympic Games
Dec 12, 2019On the lookout for Sheep-Cote Clod
Jul 2, 2019Sequential images of a total solar eclipse
Feb 2, 2019Groundhog Day arrives—beyond a shadow of a doubt
Jun 6, 2019Engineering an artificial harbor in Normandy
May 18, 2018It’s Endangered Species Day
Oct 2, 2020A wild and scenic scene
Aug 21, 2024Nazca boobies, Wolf Island, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador
Jan 13, 2026Hen Galan
Jul 18, 2023Great hornbill, Thailand
Jan 20, 2025Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Nov 24, 2023Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park, Washington
Nov 17, 2019Remembering the Velvet Revolution
Mar 29, 2026Peggys Point Lighthouse, Atlantic Coast, Nova Scotia, Canada
Feb 15, 2026World Whale Day
Jul 6, 2019Racers pushing past sunflowers in the 2018 Tour de France
Jul 26, 2021The dancing trees of Sumba Island
Mar 7, 2021Finding a balance between wetlands and water treatment
Jul 27, 2018Composite image of a lunar eclipse