The big clue came when they examined these bacteria on their teeth and found 8. Disgusting as it may seem, we have them too and more.

At that point we knew that wasn't it.

Let's see what Wikipedia says "Komodo dragons may be better understood as representative of a relict population of very large varanid lizards that once lived across Indonesia and Australia, most of which, along with other megafauna, died out after the Pleistocene (likely as a result of human activity).[1] Fossils very similar to V. komodoensis have been found in Australia dating to greater than 3.8 million years ago, "

Oh, ok, man wiped them out 3.8 million years ago. That's why Wikipedia has been America's news source since 1776 according to Wikipedia.

"and its body size remained stable on Flores, one of the handful of Indonesian islands where it is currently found, over the last 900,000 years, "a time marked by major faunal turnovers, extinction of the island's megafauna, and the arrival of early hominids by 880 ka [kiloannums]."[1]"

Flores is where the "hobbit people" lived, a 3 foot race named Homo floresensis that died out only 15,000 years ago unless you believe the anecdotal sightings well into the teentith century. Hard to say man wiped out the lizards when on the one Island they live on still has them and man, such as he was there, died out long ago. Imagine what a tasty snack a three foot human is not a lizard thatr eats cows whole. Is it difficult to see how stories of dragons larger than man got started - they really existed, but they had poison not fire, fire was a euphemism.

" It has been claimed that they have a venomous bite; there are two glands in the lower jaw which secrete several toxic proteins. The biological significance of these proteins is disputed, but the glands have been shown to secrete an anticoagulant. "

Now read this:

"Copious amounts of red saliva the Komodo dragons produce help to lubricate the food, but swallowing is still a long process (15–20 minutes to swallow a goat). A Komodo dragon may attempt to speed up the process by ramming the carcass against a tree to force it down its throat, sometimes ramming so forcefully, the tree is knocked down.[34] A small tube under the tongue that connects to the lungs allows it to breathe while swallowing.[25] After eating up to 80% of its body weight in one meal,[8] it drags itself to a sunny location to speed digestion, as the food could rot and poison the dragon if left undigested for too long. Because of their slow metabolism, large dragons can survive on as few as 12 meals a year.[25] After digestion, the Komodo dragon regurgitates a mass of horns, hair, and teeth known as the gastric pellet, which is covered in malodorous mucus. After regurgitating the gastric pellet, it rubs its face in the dirt or on bushes to get rid of the mucus, suggesting it does not relish the scent of its own excretions.[25]"

Gross.