Komodo (island) and Botanical Gardens in Bogor, Java. The records that Ouwens made are the first reliable documentation of details about what is now called the Komodo dragon (or Komodo monitor). Ouwens was keen to obtain additional samples. He recruited hunters who killed two dragons measuring 3.1 metres and 3.35 metres as well as capturing two pups, each measuring less than one metre. Ouwens carried out studies on the samples and concluded that the Komodo dragon was not a flame-thrower but was a type of monitor lizard. Research results were published in 1912. Ouwens named the giant lizard "Varanus komodoensis". Realizing the
Giant girdled lizard Giant girdled lizard The sungazer ("Smaug giganteus", syn. "Cordylus giganteus"), also known as the giant girdled lizard or giant dragon lizard or giant zonure, is the largest species of the Cordylidae, a family of lizards from Sub-Saharan Africa. This threatened species is endemic to Highveld grasslands in the interior of South Africa. In 2011, it was assigned to the new genus "Smaug" along with seven other species previously belonging to the genus "Cordylus", based on a comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the Cordylidae. The sungazer is a heavily armoured species, with a typical snout–to-vent length of (exceptionally up to ), and