The Komodo dragon, a member of the monitor lizard (蜥蜴) family, is the 【小题1】 (large) living lizard in the world. It grows to 【小题2】 average length of 2 to 3 meters. In the wild, 【小题3】 (adult) tend to weigh about 70 kilograms.

Komodo dragons live on various islands in Indonesia. First 【小题4】 (report) to Europeans in 1910, they were not widely known until after 1912, 【小题5】 Peter Ouwens from Bogor, Java, published a paper on them. In 1980, Komodo National Park 【小题6】 (found) to help protect their population.

In addition to 【小题7】 (feed) on the flesh of dead animals,   Komodo dragons also hunt live prey (猎 物). Though the Komodo dragon is not considered poisonous, its teeth are home 【小题8】 about 50 kinds of bacteria. If the initial bite does not kill its prey, deadly infections will kill the creatures in a week.

The Komodo dragon is a vulnerable (易受攻击的) species. Female Komodo dragons lay eggs in the ground, and this gives some 【小题9】 (protect). Once born, they take about five years 【小题10】 (mature), and can live for up to 30 years.

Covering an area about three times 【小题1】 size of Yellowstone National Park, the GPNP is designed to reflect the guiding principle of “protecting the authenticity and integrity (完整性) of natural ecosystems, preserving biological diversity, protecting ecological buffer zones, 【小题2】 leaving behind precious natural assets (资产) for future generations”.

Giant pandas also serve 【小题3】an umbrella species (物种), bringing protection to a host of plants and animals in the southwestern and northwestern parts of China.

A lot of my time is spent doing wildlife surveys, which means trying to figure out how many animals or fish are in a certain area. This is 【小题1】(hard) than just simply counting them because animals are well hidden and 【小题2】(frequent) move in and out of our study areas. So we use various techniques, like banding birds and radio-tracking turtles to help us understand their habits. We use all this information 【小题3】(help) manage these populations.