Enter the baby dragons

You know there's hope for the world when you hear news of dozens of baby Komodo dragons hatching in captivity as part of a breeding program in Indonesia.

They may not be the cutest creatures, but they are beautiful to conservationists, including a zoo in Surabaya that bred the 29 new dragons, offering hope for efforts to let the endangered species flourish.

The world's largest living lizards are found only in Indonesia's Komodo National Park and neighboring Flores and it is estimated that just 3,458 adult and baby species are left in the wild.

The fearsome reptiles, which can grow to three meters long and weigh up to 90 kilograms, are threatened by human activity and climate change destroying their habitat. The newborns were hatched from two females after their eggs were placed in incubators to prevent them from being eaten by their mothers or other dragons.

Female Komodos can fertilize an egg without the need for a male.

The zoo started the program in the 1990s as part of the effort to conserve the species in a city located more than 700 kilometers away from the dragon's natural habitat.