Dimdima
Online Children's Magazine from India
In 1912, a pilot of the Dutch Air Force crash-landed on the tiny Indonesian island of Komodo. Upon his return to his base in Java several weeks later he reported having seen dragons on the island!
His superiors thought he had gone mad. However an army officer, Van Steyn went to the island to investigate and he did indeed see what he thought were dragons. He shot two of the animals and took their skins to the curator of a museum in Java.
The curator realised that the skins were not of dragons but of giant lizards!
It was thus that the world's largest lizards now known as Komodo dragons were introduced to the rest of the world. Komodo dragons grow up to a length of 3 m and can weigh as much as 200 Kg.
It is known that besides feeding on carrion the lizards prey on dogs, pigs, goats and other animals and are greedy and voracious eaters. But it is not definitely known if a lizard would attack a man with the intention of feeding on him.
Some people say the dragons came to the island from Australia. But though they are good swimmers most zoologists find it hard to believe they swam all the way and how they got to Komodo remains a mystery.
Last updated on :8/15/2003
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Dimdima is the Sanskrit word for ‘drumbeat’. In olden days, victory in battle was heralded by the beat of drums or any important news to be conveyed to the people used to be accompanied with drumbeats.
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
K. M Munshi Marg,
Chowpatty, Mumbai - 400 007
email : editor@dimdima.com
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
505, Sane Guruji Marg,
Tardeo, Mumbai - 400 034
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Dimdima.com, the Children's Website of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan launched in 2000 and came out with a Printed version of Dimdima Magazine in 2004. At present the Printed Version have more than 35,000 subscribers from India and Abroad.