Two giant lizards are settling into a new home, as the Australian Reptile Park prepares to officially open its new Komodo Dragon habitat on Friday.
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The reptiles, a male named Kraken and a female called Daenerys – named after the Game of Thrones character known in the popular books and TV series as the mother of dragons – have not been on permanent display at the park for the past six years, though they have been brought out for a daily Komodo Dragon walk.
The pair was hatched at Los Angeles Zoo in 2011 and arrived in Australia the following year.
Their new state-of-the-art home is modelled on an ancient Indonesian temple and will allow visitors a close encounter with the species, known as the world’s largest lizard.
A park spokesperson said local builders and tradespeople were enlisted to construct the facility at the Somersby zoo.
The spokesperson said the daily Komodo Dragon walk would also continue.
Komodo Dragons can grow up to 4m long and weigh as much as 100kg.
Kraken measures 2.2m long and weighs in at 35.5kg.
According to the park’s website, the lizards live in forests and grasslands on volcanic Indonesian islands.
They are carnivorous – sometimes canabals – and eat insects, snakes, rodents, monkeys, wild boar, deer, buffaloes and dead animals.
They are classified as endangered, with threats to their natural habitat, poaching, human interference and natural disasters identified as dangers to the species.
