Most Nusantara islands have been connected to other land masses in the past, but the Komodo, Rinca, and Padar have always stood alone. Their parched, mountainous terrain produced nothing of interest to conquerors, and the deadly currents that surrounded them held all but the bravest fisherman and pearl divers at bay for centuries. One of the driest spots of the entire archipelago, Komodo bakes in the heat of the equatorial sun almost year round, reaching a scorching 43 degrees celcius at the height of the dry season. Only the heartiest flora and fauna species usually survive in such an environment. Why the dragons evolved on these islands, and nowhere else, remains a mystery, but painstaking research is gradually revealing more about them. The dragons are normally solitary, and mating usually occurs when several animals gather in the vicinity of a kill. Breeding takes place in the dry season, after which the female lays an average of 35 eggs which she buries in an old megapode mound or under large boulders on the hillsides. The mother guards the nest shortly before laying, and for a short period afterward, but is sometimes driven off by another female who is about to lay. The young hatch eight to nine months later, and immediately scamper up the nearest tree where their speckled coloring serves as excellent camouflage. At first they feed on other lizards and insects, then rats and birds, but eventually grow too large for climbing and are forced to compete for wild game on the ground below, among their cannibalistic elders. The dragons dislike the intense heat of the day and the cool of the evening and use burrows along embankments of dried riverbeds to regulate their body temperature. The dragons basking in the sun appear to be lazy and harmless, however they are able to rise their bellies off the ground on muscular legs and sprint short distances at up to 11 miles per hour. Their massive tails are effective for knocking down prey and enormous claws on their forefeet are efficient ripping devices.[email_link]