As a symbol of Indonesia’s strength and the world’s biggest species of lizard, Komodo Dragons have a fearsome reputation. But if you’ve seen them in zoos, or even on one of the islands in Komodo National Park, you’ll know that they actually spend most of the time chilling in a nearly motionless state in order to conserve their energy.
But as this remarkable video of two giant male Komodo Dragons battling it out shows, they are often saving up all that energy for the very important task of beating down their rivals. Although this video has been edited down to just under two minutes, the man who shot it said the actual battle went on for about 30 minutes!
The footage was taken by Australian wildlife photographer Chris Bray on Rina Island in Komodo National Park.
Komodo Dragons often battle for dominance, though Bray notes that usually the fights are brief contests that end quickly and without serious injury once one of the dragons realizes that it is clearly overmatched. But in this case, the two behemoths proved to be almost equal in strength.
“The ranger said sometimes in these battles one can be thrown awkwardly and break a leg or similar that can end up in the dragon subsequently dying, but usually they both survive,” Bray told The Daily Mail.
If this video proves anything, it’s that those old Japanese Godzilla movies with the men in the rubber suits pretty much nailed exactly what giant lizard fighting should look like.
