Hobbits Vs Dragons (287 words)
Professor Tolkien would have been proud of the hobbits of Flores, Homo floresiensis had all the pluck and guile that he attributed to Samwise Gamgee. Flores held not one, but many dragons, the Komodos. Some scientists think that Homo floresiensis not only faced those dragons, they ate them. A fate that Smaug is not known to have shared.
Homo floreseinsis had fire and, according to Professor Roberts of the Wollongong School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (Australia), a variety of stone tools: scrapers, axes, cutters and projectile points. He is believed to have used a throwing spear against the apex predator of his home, the Komodo dragon and the pygmy elephant, stegodon. It’s also believed that he had sufficient language skills to coordinate groups of hunters. While Homo floreseinsis’ brain was one-third the size of ours, it appears to be a case of size does not matter. The complicated frontal lobes allowed our ancestor to hold his own against monsters.
The Komodo dragon is a formidable opponent for modern armed human. They can reach eleven feet in length and weigh up to 300 lbs. Komodo salvia is a virulent toxin. Their teeth are similar to those of Tyrannosaurs Rex and it boasts formidable claws. For a four-foot tall, seventy pound, Homo floreseinsis male, armed with a spear, he would have been a daunting enemy. But there was a worse nightmare to be faced, the true king of Flores, Megalania prisca, a super-sized Komodo that reached lengths up to twenty-three feet. Mercifully, their reign of terror ended about 25,000 years ago. While Homo floresiensis shared the island with Megalania for thousands of years, it was only a campfire tale to frighten children during LB1’s lifetime.
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