'2 beautiful boys': Saskatoon zoo manager raves about komodo dragons
Zoo will open new exhibit in April
The Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo's manager might have a different definition of 'beautiful' than most.
On Tuesday, Tim Sinclair-Smith couldn't stop raving about the zoo's new pair of komodo dragons.
"They're two beautiful boys," Sinclair-Smith told CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning. "If you love reptiles, you're going to love these guys. They're huge animals; prehistoric looking."
The zoo was able to loan the lizards from the Calgary Zoo, which had to find a temporary home for the reptiles while their habitat was being renovated.
Sinclair-Smith said the lizards are adapting to their new home perfectly. The zoo is using its historic barn building to house the lizards, pumping up the room's humidity to a whopping 70 per cent.
"It is absolutely world class," he said. "It's an amazing exhibit. Even the Calgary guys, when they came in, were absolutely blown away."
Vulnerable species
So, what do a pair of gigantic komodo dragons eat?
Anything they want, apparently. Sinclair-Smith said they like to feast on rabbits and chickens. Measuring six feet long, no one is likely to get in between these dragons and their next meal.
The komodo dragon is a vulnerable species and is on the edge of being endangered.
"It's a great way to showcase there are a lot of species right on that precipice, right on the edge of being endangered," he said. "It gives us an opportunity, with a very exciting, cool species, to raise a lot of really good questions ..."
The dragons will be on display for the next year starting April 1.
With files from CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning