KOMODO DRAGON

About the Komodo Dragon
The Komodo dragon is a huge animal that is considered to be the largest lizard in the world. Historically, its ancestors roamed the earth half a million years ago. Now these amazing creatures are found in several locations including Komodo Island, which of course is the home to the prehistoric creatures, Rinca and in several nearby islands in the Indonesian archipelago. The islands are classified as semi-arid. If you cannot visit these islands, you will find that you will be able to see the Komodo Dragons in zoos across Indonesia.
Komodo Dragons are considered the last of their kind remaining in the world today. They are characterized by their short legs with large talons, a stout body and very long tails that can be used to crush an opponent. They can also grow up to 3 to 4 meters in length and run at speeds up to 15 miles per hour. Their long, forked tongue allows them to test the air for scents. The Komodo dragon has a long, forked tongue that it uses to test the air for scents. Their eyesight is good for distinguishing movement and color but not very good in low light. They also have a severely limited frequency range that they can hear (400-2000 Hz).
They are good swimmers and are able to prey upon a variety of species. Young komodo dragons feed on insects and small lizards but as they get older they begin to eat mice and other small mammals. Adult komodo dragons prey on pigs, goats, deer, young buffalos, horses and basically anything that they are able to catch.
Komodo dragons are solitary lizards and usually come together only to mate and feed on carrion. At night, komodo dragons sleep in caves or in gullies and among tree roots. They come out to feed in the morning. Female komodo dragons lay between 20 and 40 eggs in a hole in the ground. The Komodo dragon is protected by law and although they are considered harmless, it is advisable to keep them at the distance.

MOUNT MERAPI

MOUNT MERAPI, Jogjakarta

MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesian name for "Mount of Fire", the most active Vulcanoe in Indonesia. Statistically it would erupt in every 2~5 years. This mountain favor by local and foreign tourist. It take 5 hours to climb, 3 hours to return. Peoples prefer the north slope route via Selo. Other prefer south west route thru Kinah rejo. Route from southwest is possible but dangerous as the lava flow path is here. It is really hyper active vulcanoe; during a clear we can see hot night red molten lava. 

THE HIMALAYAS

The Formation of the Himalayas
The Himalayas are known to be youngfold mountains. Young, because these have been formed relatively recently in the earth's history, compared to older mountain ranges like the Aravallis in India, and the Appalachian in the USA. They are known as fold mountains because the mountains extend for 2500 km in length in a series of parallel ridges or folds.The accepted theory about the formation of the Himalayas started to take shape in the year 1912 when German meteorologist Alfred Wegener developed his Theory of Continental Drift. According to Wegener, the earth was composed of several giant plates called tectonic plates. On these plates lie the continents and the oceans of the earth. The continents were said to have formed a single mass at one point in time. From this single mass, today's continents have "drifted" apart from each other over a period of millions of years.

We pick up the story about 250 million years ago. During this time, all the earth's land was a single super continent called Pangea, which was surrounded by a large ocean.Around 200 million years ago (also known as the Middle Permian Period) , an extensive sea stretched along the latitudinal area presently occupied by the Himalayas. This sea was named the Tethys. Around this period, the super continent Pangea began to gradually split into different land masses and move apart in different directions.

As a result, rivers from both the northern Eurasian land mass (called Angara) and the southern Indian land mass (called Gondwana) started depositing large amounts of sediments into the shallow sea that was the Tethys. There were marine animals called ammonites living in the sea at the time. The two land masses, the Eurasian and the Indian sub-continent, moved closer and closer. Indian plate was moving north about at the rate of about 15 cm per year (6 inches per year).

The initial mountain building process started about seventy million years ago (or the Upper Cretaceous period) when the two land masses (or plates) began to collide with each other. As a result, the already shallow seabed rapidly folded folded and was raised into longitudinal ridges and valleys.