Inquiry into death of rare Komodo dragon

An inquiry was under way at London Zoo today following the death of a Komodo dragon which had clambered over a wall dividing her from her mate.

The Zoological Society of London wants to know how the "exceptionally agile" giant female lizard, an endangered species, managed to escape from her side.

The death is an embarrassment to the zoo, which had hoped the reptiles Raja and Nina, which arrived last month amid great publicity, would become a major attraction.

Experts feared that 10-year-old Nina had died from bite or claw marks from her six-year-old mate, but a post mortem examination showed she received no flesh wounds. She died from internal bleeding caused when she fell from the wall dividing their enclosures, which ranges from two metres to 2.5 metres high.

Curators had hoped to "formally introduce" the pair later this year, in the hope that they would breed. Nina scaled a wide dividing wall to get into Raja's section on Wednesday. Keepers managed to coax her down with brooms and chunks of meat, but she then scrambled back up to the wall's highest part before falling into Raja's side, where he chased her for several minutes before keepers separated them.

An RSPCA spokeswoman said it was "shocked" that Nina died. "Komodo dragons can be aggressive towards each other," she added. "It appears these facts were not taken into account in the design of the captive facilities at London Zoo."