Provincial spokesman Marius Jelamu said the museum will be partof the efforts to restore the island as a conservation area. It will be equippedwith audiovisual to help tourist understand the process of dragon breeding,before directly witnessing the giant lizards in the wild.

The museum will also offer information about the island’s ecosystemand biodiversity, and scientific documents about the history of the dragon aswell as of the international tourist site that has been named among the world’snew seven wonders of nature.

Marius said that the establishment of the museum isnecessary to educate the public about the giant lizards’ breeding patterns,adding that together with tourist destination, the facility will act as aresearch centre for experts.

On September 30, Indonesia announced it had cancelled a planto close the island next year because its population of rare Komodo dragons hadremained relatively stable and was not under threat. According to governmentdata, over 1,700 Komodo dragons currently live on the island./. VNA