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Komodo Dragons—Giant Predators with a Tiny Kingdom

Adopt a Komodo Dragon!

Primeval Power
The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard in the world. The largest verified specimen reached a length of 10.3 feet and weighed 366 pounds, although this may have included a substantial amount of undigested food. More typical weights for the largest wild dragons are about 155 pounds. Although the Komodo can run briefly at speeds up to 13 miles per hour, it generally relies on stealth and power for hunting.

A top predator with possibly important lessons for science, the Komodo dragon is a popular resident at the National Zoo.

Thought to live about 30 years in the wild, Komodo dragons are limited to a few volcanic Indonesian islands of the Lesser Sunda group including the Island of Komodo (the largest at 22 miles long). Numbering between 2,500 and 5,000 in the wild, Komodo dragons are found in tropical savanna forests, but range widely over the islands, from beach to ridge tops.

Komodo dragons eat almost any kind of meat. They scavenge from carcasses or stalk animals ranging in size from small rodents to large water buffalo. The young feed on mostly small gecko lizards or insects. These predators are at the top of the food chain and are cannibalistic. They can detect carrion from a considerable distance.

A dragon may spend hours in one spot, waiting for a deer, boar, goat, or anything sizable and nutritious. Komodos hunt along game trails, where they wait for prey to pass by. They then attack. Most of the time dragons are unsuccessful in bringing down an animal; however, if they are able to bite the prey, the toxic bacteria in their saliva will kill it within the next few days. Then they use their powerful sense of smell to locate the dead animal. A kill is usually shared by many Komodo dragons and very little is wasted.

A Komodo’s tooth serrations harbor bits of meat from its last meal, either fresh prey or carrion. This protein-rich residue supports large numbers of bacteria. Scientists have found some 50 different bacterial strains, at least seven of which are highly septic, in the saliva.

Dragon Facts

  • Vision and hearing are useful, but the Komodo's sense of smell is its primary food detector. The Komodo smells much like a snake does. It uses its long, yellow, forked tongue to sample the air, after which the two tongue tips retreat to the roof of the mouth, where they make contact with the Jacobson's organ. The chemical analyzers "smell" a prey animal by recognizing airborne molecules. Little is known about their visual abilities, but they have a much smaller hearing range than humans. The result is an animal that cannot hear such sounds as a low-pitched voice or a high-pitched scream.
  • The muscles of the Komodo's jaws and throat allow it to swallow huge chunks of meat with astonishing rapidity. Several movable joints open the lower jaw unusually wide. The stomach expands easily, enabling an adult to consume up to 80 percent of its own body weight in a single meal, which most likely explains some exaggerated claims for immense weights in captured individuals. Komodos can throw up the contents of their stomachs when threatened to reduce their weight in order to flee more quickly.
  • Large mammalian carnivores, such as lions, tend to leave 25 to 30 percent of their kill unconsumed, leaving the intestines, hide, skeleton, and hooves. In contrast, Komodos eat much more efficiently, leaving only about 12 percent of the prey. They eat bones, hooves, and pieces of hide. They also eat intestines, but only after swinging them vigorously to scatter their contents.
  • Komodo hatchlings weigh less than 3.5 ounces and average only 16 inches in length. Their early years are precarious, and they often fall victim to predators, including their fellow Komodos. Young live in trees for protection. They feed on a diverse diet of insects, small lizards, snakes, and birds. Should they live five years, they will weigh about 55 pounds and stretch 6.5 feet long. By this time, they have moved on to bigger prey, such as rodents, monkeys, goats, wild boars, and the most popular Komodo food, deer.
  • Komodo National Park contains fenced areas, not to protect the dragons but rather to protect human visitors from the dragons! Silence rules are enforced, not to avoid scaring the giant lizards but to avoid attracting them! Komodos are large, ferocious predators fully capable of killing and eating a human. Tour guides on Komodo Island recount a story about a tourist who went to the island’s beach to sunbathe. All that was found of him were his glasses and camera.
Komodo dragons are solitary, coming together only to breed and sometimes to feed.

An Endangered Species with Possible Lessons for Human Immunology
Komodo dragons are vulnerable to extinction due in part to their limited range. They appear to have been hunted over the years, but not to the extent of decimating the population. Komodo National Park, established in 1980, and strict anti-poaching laws have helped protect the dragons, although illegal activity still takes place. Villagers sometimes poison carrion bait to reduce their numbers. Because of their small range, Komodos are highly affected by habitat loss and reductions of prey animal numbers.

This powerful predator may hold special significance for science. Amazingly, despite the high levels of infectious bacteria in a Komodo’s saliva and their deadly implications for other animals, a dragon’s bite is not harmful to another Komodos. Dragons wounded in battle with their comrades appear to be unaffected by their otherwise deadly bacteria. Scientists are looking for antibodies in Komodo blood that may be responsible for saving them from infection.

Another dragon enters the world at the National Zoo. About 20 eggs usually make up a Komodo clutch.

Dragon at the National Zoo
The National Zoo has been a leader in the fight to conserve this fascinating creature. In 1992, Komodo dragons hatched for the first time outside of Indonesia at the National Zoo. Since then, the Zoo has reared 55 dragons, which have been sent to about 30 zoos worldwide.

One of the highlights of the Zoo’s Reptile Discovery Center is the Zoo's male Komodo dragon, Murphy, who lives in an open-air, outdoor enclosure. The Zoo’s dragon is fed dead rats and rabbits several times a week.

Adopt a Dragon
Adopt this wonderful reptile and help us continue conserving wildlife and providing world-class care for the 2,000 animals residing at the Zoo and its Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia.

Adopt a Komodo Dragon!

Because your contribution is dedicated directly to animal care, you truly make a difference!

Photos by Jessie Cohen/NZP

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