Weekly natural-history zone.
Ends 9.20.
Website: [web address removed]

8.30 The Natural World: Komodo Dragons
A film crew visit the remote Komodo Island in Indonesia in search of the world's largest lizard - the three-metre-long Komodo dragon.
Dating from the Jurassic period, the Komodo dragon is a living dinosaur with a reputation as a ferocious predator.
In addition to its normal diet of livestock and wild animals, which it ambushes and then slashes with its razor-sharp teeth, it has also been known on occasion to devour the human inhabitants of the few islands it inhabits.
But the creature has a gentler side, revealed as cameras delve inside an underground nest chamber to capture footage of females devotedly caring for their eggs.
Almost inevitably, the species is attracting tourists, and, with many of the indigenous population of the islands making their living from this source, the delicate and uneasy balance of power between man and Komodo dragon is in increasing danger of being disrupted.
(R) (S)