Along with his first wife, Catherine, Burden set out to find the dragon from Komodo, which was labeled by the New York Times as “a fierce direct descendant of the dinosaur.” With the use of traps stuffed with bison meat, Burden managed to catch a few gigantic specimens that weighed about 159 kilograms and measured about 3 meters.
Two out of three captured Komodo dragons were sent to Bronx Zoo, where they died soon after and were donated to the American Museum of Natural History after they underwent taxidermy.
In 1927, Burden released a book about his journey to Komodo Island called “The Dragon Lizards of Komodo.” His expedition inspired the creators of 1933’s “King Kong.” It is thanks to Burden that this Varanus species was colloquially called the Komodo dragon.
