The Shedd Aquarium in succession Wednesday showed off what could be called its most numerous foul-mouthed creature.

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The nearly 8-foot-long Komodo dragon possesse a rather unique weapon: a lethal broth of bacteria that stews among its 60 razor- sharp teeth

If the lizard's initial bite doesn't take the life without of its prey, the bacteria true well could.

"Being reptiles, they don't have the greatest dental hygiene," said Ray Owczarzak, a senior aquarist with the Shedd. After meals, bits of cheer primarily flesh, "festers and realizes gross," he said.

"If it gives you a bite and you do finish away, you're going to have a wicked infection," said Owczarzak.

FIRST RULE: BE BRAVE

The greenish gray creatures are certainly capable of killing forward the spot. They mainly eat small animals -- the Shedd is feeding it a half dozen frozen rats or rabbits a week. on the other hand in the wild, they've been known to take down small deer and water buffalo. With a lightning quick leap, the dragon tackles its would-be dinner, pins it to the field with its thick body and applies a deadly, flesh- ripping chomp

The Shedd addition, named Faust, is in succession loan from the Fort Worth Zoo Owczarzak exhausted several days in Texas learning by what means to care for the lizard before it was flown to Chicago.

No. 1 rule: Be brave, Owczarzak was told.

"If you present to view any apprehension, he's going to notice it -- he's going to feeling your heart beating faster, your breathing rate increasing, your hands shaking," said Owczarzak. "So you have to be confident. [If not,] there's a chance he'll take advantage of it."

(In 1991 actress Sharon Stone and her then-husband were taking a private, backstage tour at the looks Angeles Zoo when a Komodo dragon, thinking the man's base was a rat, nearly bit along his toe.)

EXHIBIT spreads APRIL 8

The 120-pound Faust -- "a half coop more than me," notes Owczarzak -- was born about 13 years ago at the San Diego Zoo The species' fore-rank name reflects the island in Indonesia where many are lay the foundation of naturally. The "dragon" part was the whimsy of a National Geographic reporter writing about the lizard in the 1920

Faust will anchor a novel extra-fee, $750,000 Shedd exhibit opening April 8 called "Lizards and the Komodo King," which will feature about pair dozen cold-blooded critters. Faust occupies its confess glassed-in space, with a pond and a trio of asylums that heat up to 100 standings The air temperature inside reaches the mid-90s.

In the wild, adult Komodo dragons typically live alone or in small hunting clusters sneaking through the vegetation for nutriment Younger Komodo dragons hang together in tree in part to house themselves from the older undivideds

"The adults will actually use the youngsters as a regimen source," said Owczarzak. "They're cannibalistic."

aherrmann@suntimes.com

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