The post When Playtime Gets Wild: Komodo Dragon Eats Plush Toys After Macaques Toss Them Into His Enclosure appeared first on A-Z Animals.
Quick Take
At Singapore Zoo, a Komodo dragon named Mario swallowed multiple plush toys after wild macaques tossed them into his enclosure.
As ambush hunters triggered by sudden movement, Komodo dragons can instinctively strike at flurries of activity, likely causing Mario to mistake the toys for prey.
Veterinary staff from Mandai Wildlife Group launched an emergency medical procedure to check for internal damage and successfully remove the blockages.
Things got a little crazy at the Singapore Zoo, where March brings mischief and mayhem to a resident komodo dragon. Mario, a rare Komodo dragon hatched outside of Indonesia, found himself in a dilemma. When a group of wild macaques found a bag of stuffed plushies and decided to throw them in his exhibit, all bets were off. Mario wasted no time making a meal of them, and in turn, left one veterinary team extremely concerned.
Singapore Zoo Komodo Dragon Snacks on Stuffed Plushies
At the Singapore Zoo, wild and captive animals coexist in a shared space. This is what makes the zoo so unique and gives its residents a natural environment to live in. Mario, the komodo dragon, is one of its most beloved residents. The species is also notoriously difficult to breed, and hatchlings are a rarity. This makes his presence at the zoo that much more impactful for visitors. His caretakers work tirelessly to ensure his health, which is how March’s incident was dealt with swiftly. And, despite a few hiccups, successfully.
Komodo dragons use their sharp, recurved claws to dig up shallow graves.
©ZiemowitJ / CC BY 4.0 – Original / License
(ZiemowitJ / CC BY 4.0)
On March 2nd, an Instagram video posted by the Mandai Wildlife Group shared the predicament Mario found himself in. As some wild macaques, which are native to the area, had their own fun with a bag of plushies they’d found. Mario, on the other hand, found himself a snack. The flurry and frenzy of the macaque’s excited activity is initially what drew his attention. This lured him to the forbidden funhouse toys, unaware they were not edible. Without realizing what he was eating, Mario ingested two large plushies. From that moment on, the clock began ticking, and the Mandai Wildlife Group waited.
An Indigestible Problem
If you’ve ever had a pet eat something they weren’t meant to, then you know that it’s often expelled as easily as it’s ingested. In Mario’s case, the Mandai Wildlife Group hoped for the same result. Komodo dragons often regurgitate food or objects that don’t agree with them, or that can’t be digested easily. Unfortunately, after a full 24 hours, Mario still had not regurgitated the two plushies he’d eaten. The emergency veterinary team immediately jumped into action.
Objects left in an animal’s stomach pose a significant threat to their health and can even become fatal. Large objects cause intestinal blockages that prevent food from passing through in either direction. As the animal’s health rapidly declines, they may become sick, lethargic, and eventually succumb to injuries caused by the blockage. Given Mario’s size and the fact that a full day had passed by, the veterinary team knew they needed to intervene.
Diving Into the Belly of the Beast
Mario was scheduled to undergo an endoscopic procedure to remove the stuffed plushies. Dr. Heng Yirui, deputy vice-president of veterinary healthcare and scientific programs at Mandai Wildlife Group, led the operation. While Mario was under anesthesia, veterinarians attempted to remove the plushies using an endoscopic tool. After about 90 minutes, these efforts proved to be unsuccessful. Knowing time was running out for Mario, the team switched to a more aggressive means of removing the plushies.
A stuffed toy is not the best companion for a Komodo Dragon.
©iStock.com/kiwisoul
(iStock.com/kiwisoul)
In the video shared on Instagram, Dr. Heng can be seen with his entire arm down Mario’s throat. The footage shows him reaching as far as he can for the plushies. As he grabs one plushie with his bare hands, the footage shows a close-up of the fully-intact toy. “Trust me, it is difficult to grab onto these toys with all your might. I could only manage to pull out the first toy. I was so fatigued I had to ask for help for the second toy,” he says in the social media video.
Mario Is Thankfully on the Mend
Thanks to the swift action of Dr. Heng and his team, Mario made it out of surgery. The Mandai Wildlife Group confirms there are no further obstructions to his intestines or stomach, giving the komodo dragon a clean bill of health. The day after surgery, Mario passed stool.
Mario’s instinct led him to unintentionally ingest the stuffed plushies. Komodo dragons are ambush hunters, which means their predatory instincts were triggered by the macaque’s activity. In all likelihood, Mario may have thought what he was eating was a macaque, or at least an animal that was digestible. In the wild, komodo dragons are skilled hunters and can bring down animals weighing up to 100 pounds. They typically prey on boar, Timor deer, and water buffalo during large feeding events. Small prey often include lizards, snakes, birds, and even insects. While these stuffed plushies don’t fall in any of those categories, it’s a miracle that Mario has lived to see another day.
The post When Playtime Gets Wild: Komodo Dragon Eats Plush Toys After Macaques Toss Them Into His Enclosure appeared first on A-Z Animals.