Indonesian Komodo dragons are the heaviest living lizard on the planet and can grow to 10 feet in length. They have poisonous venom and shark-like teeth that can kill a person, within hours of being bitten. These living fossils can run up to 11 mph in short bursts.

For decades villagers have dwelt peacefully alongside the world's largest lizard, until the dragons commenced to attack.

The reports spread rapidly through the smattering of tropical islands in southeastern Indonesia, the only area the now endangered reptiles can still be found in the wild. Komodo dragon attacks are still unusual, affirm the experts, even though a young boy and a fisherman have died since 2007 and one person was killed in 2000. No less than eight people have been severely injured in the last ten years. All incidents involved an unprovoked attack.

A 46 year old park ranger, Main, was completing paperwork when a dragon glided up the stairs of his wooden hut in Komodo National Park and attacked his ankles dangling below the desk. The ranger attempted to lever open the animal's powerful jaws it locked its teeth into his hand.

The dragon's saliva is crammed with over 50 different strains of bacteria. When it attacks it goes on a frenzied biting spree that releases life-threatening venom.

Main said, "I thought I wouldn't survive... I've spent half my life working with Komodos and have never seen anything like it," pointing to his jagged gashes, sewn up with 55 stitches and still swollen three months later. "Luckily, my friends heard my screams and got me to hospital in time."

Heru Rudiharto, a biologist and reptile expert said, "Though poaching is illegal, the sheer size of the park and a shortage of rangers makes it almost impossible to patrol". Villagers say the dragons are hungry and more aggressive towards them, because their food is being poached, though park officials are quick to oppose this idea.

"We used to give them the bones and skin of deer," say the local fishermen. Many villagers accuse the 1994 law that ban villagers from feeding the dragons.

"The giant lizards have always been dangerous," Rudiharto said. It doesn't matter how tame they may seem, lounging around under trees, gazing at the sea from white-sandy beaches, the animals are fast, strong and deadly.

In just one feeding a dragon can consume 70% of its own body weight.

There is a steady population of about 3,000 to 5,000 Komodo dragons on the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Gila Motang, and Flores, in Indonesia. However, a shortage of egg-laying females, human encroachment, poaching, and natural disasters has pushed the species to endangered status.