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August 30, 2005

Social Studies Lesson # 4 - Island of the Dragons

Do you think all islands are tropical with lush vegetation? In
the Indonesian archipelago, the islands of the east are very different to
the islands of the western part. Komodo Island is a dry, desolate wilderness
sandwiched in between Flores and Sumbawa. Its towering cliffs form a
forbidding skyline rising above the Flores Sea and provide a perfect setting
for the lizards that call it "home." This is not a scene from the movie
"Jurassic Park," but is the island of the Komodo dragons, largest monitor
lizard in the world and found no other place on earth.

Indonesia is divided into two regions divided by the Wallace
Line which divides the archipelago between Lombok and Bali. (We will take a
closer look at the origin of the Wallace Line when the expedition draws
nearer to it.) The islands to the east, called Nusa Tenggara, share many
characteristics which are quite different to the islands of Bali, Java, and
Sumatra. These islands share similar flora and fauna, however, the dragons
of Komodo are only found on the islands of Komodo, Rinca, and their smaller
counterparts.

Lesson Activities:

a.. Research a map of Indonesia to identify the islands of the
archipelago. Label the islands. (Officially, there are 13,677 islands, but
you may identify only eight!)
b.. Create symbols which represent the plants and animals (don't forget
the seas and oceans) found in Nusa Tenggara and place them on your map.
c.. Research dinosaurs of the Pleistocene Era to find out more about the
distant cousins of the Komodo monitors. The remains of these ancient lizards
were found in Timor. (No evidence of these remains has been found anywhere
else in the world.)
d.. Research the latest articles about The Hobbit of Flores. A recent
archeological dig on this island has uncovered an amazing skeleton, evidence
of a group of people who probably encountered the cousins of Komodo!

Posted by barb at August 30, 2005 4:19 AM

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