Discovery

Komodo was first documented by Europeans in 1910. His name was expanded after 1912, when Peter Ouwens, director of the Zoological Museum in Bogor, published a paper about the dragons after receiving photos and reptile skins. Later, the Komodo dragon was the driving factor does expedition to Komodo Island by W. Douglas Burden in 1926. After returning with 12 preserved specimens and 2 live dragons tail, this expedition provided the inspiration for the 1933 film King Kong. W. Douglas Burden was the first to give the name "Komodo dragon" to the animals. Three of the specimens obtained dragons reshaped into animals on display and is still kept in the American Museum of Natural History