Iron Coating on Komodo Dragon Teeth Sets Them Apart as the Most Metal Lizards

Should you need another reason to never leave your house, just know that legendarily bloodthirsty gigantic reptiles that have been known to eat humans also have teeth coated in iron. 

Some very brave researchers at King’s College London made the discovery in the dentition of Komodo dragons, which can grow to over 10 feet (3 meters) and 360 pounds (163 kilograms). The researchers examined the skulls and teeth of specimens kept at museums, and also the mouth of a living Komodo kept at a London zoo.

Upon closely examining the teeth, the researchers discovered that they are not only curved and serrated, aiding in tearing apart flesh, but also feature a strange orange line. Closer examination of the discoloration revealed it to be the result of a thin coat of iron. They surmised that the metal is a protective layer that helps the teeth maintain their deadly edge. The team then looked at samples of teeth from other members of the monitor lizard family and found that some of them, too, featured the iron coating.

The finding, reported in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, was the result of a happy accident. The scientists weren’t studying Komodo dragon teeth for the heck of it or to help fuel nightmares (although they undoubtedly succeeded in that goal), but to gain insights into the feeding habits of ancient predators like Tyrannosaurs, which had similarly shaped teeth. The unexpected discovery of iron in Komodo dragon teeth is now prompting the team to investigate whether this feature also existed in dinosaurs.

“We want to use this similarity to learn more about how carnivorous dinosaurs might have ate and if they used iron in their teeth the same way as the Komodo dragon,” said Aaron LeBlanc, a lecturer in dental biosciences at King’s College London who worked on the study in a press release.  

However, as dinosaur teeth become fossilized, their chemical composition changes, making it impossible—or at least currently impossible—to detect whether iron was once present in their teeth. Still, some similarities between the chompers of Komodo dragons and tyrannosaurs were found.

“Larger meat-eating dinosaurs, like tyrannosaurs, did change the structure of the enamel itself on the cutting edges of their teeth,” said LeBlanc. “So, while Komodo dragons have altered the chemistry of their teeth, some dinosaurs altered the structure of their dental enamel to maintain a sharp cutting edge.”

LeBlanc hasn’t given up hope, though. With further study, it’s possible new methods could be devised to detect other markers of iron in Komodo dragon teeth. Those techniques, in turn, could theoretically then be applied to the search for iron in fossilized dinosaur teeth.

If this is all terrifying to you, it may be some comfort that Komodo dragon attacks on humans are fairly rare, although when they do happen, they are absolutely brutal. Just more confirmation that they are, indeed, the most metal of all living lizards.