Komodo dragons are compared to carnivorous dinosaurs for good reason. They are the largest living lizard on the planet. Their large, serrated teeth can tear apart almost any kind of meat, including water buffaloes weighing more than 1,000 pounds.
On Wednesday, scientists announced a discovery that could add to the comparisons: Komodo dragons’ teeth are coated with iron to rip apart their prey. Aaron LeBlanc, a lecturer in dental biosciences at King’s College London and the lead author of the study, said in a news release that the findings give “new insight into how Komodo dragons keep their teeth razor-sharp and may provide clues to how dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex killed and ate their prey.”
The study, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, “demonstrates a striking and previously overlooked predatory adaptation in the Komodo dragon,” according to the authors.
The Komodo dragons’ “iron-enriched coatings on their tooth serrations and tips” are evident from their orange pigmentation, according to the authors. This pigmentation has never been reported before in a carnivorous reptile, they added.
Although other reptiles have iron on their teeth, the study suggests that “only some species have evolved prominent iron coatings along specific parts of their tooth crowns, presumably as feeding adaptations.”
Indigenous to Indonesia, Komodo dragons are thought to be able to live up to 30 years in the wild. They are found on just a handful of islands in the archipelagic nation, including the one that lends the species its name.
They are listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, which assesses populations that are at risk of extinction. The organization estimates that there are fewer than 3,500 Komodo dragons alive worldwide.
Komodo dragons share a common ancestor with dinosaurs – and, the authors said, the iron coating on the dragons’ teeth could shed light on how top dinosaur predators consumed their prey. Carnivorous dinosaurs’ teeth resemble those of their Komodo dragon cousins: They are serrated, curved and blade-shaped.
Although the researchers could not confirm a similar iron coating on dinosaur fossils because of the effects of fossilization, they “want to use this similarity to learn more about how carnivorous dinosaurs might have ate and if they used iron in their teeth the same way as the Komodo dragon,” LeBlanc said in the news release.
“With further analysis of the Komodo teeth we may be able to find other markers in the iron coating that aren’t changed during fossilization. With markers like that we would know with certainty whether dinosaurs also had iron-coated teeth and have a greater understanding of these ferocious predators,” he said.