Komodo Monitor
Varanus komododensis

Komodo monitors, commonly known as Komodo dragons, are the largest lizards in the world. Their unusual size has evolved as the result of needing less food (a slow metabolism) and not having to compete with other carnivores on their island habitat. A top predator, their hunting strategy is based on stealth and power.

What They Eat
Komodo dragons ambush their prey – typically boar, water buffalo, and Sunda deer – and inflict a crippling, infectious bite. Then, using their long forked tongue to smell, they track their prey, which usually dies of infection within a few days. Young Komodo dragons feed on insects, small birds, mammals and other reptiles. All age groups eat carrion (dead animals).

Where They Live
These giant reptiles are only found on three small Indonesian islands where the climate is hot and dry for most of the year. They live in dry open grasslands or in the lower levels of tropical forests. After hatching, young live in trees until age four to avoid being eaten by adults.

What They Do
Komodo dragons are largely solitary, coming together only to breed and eat. Female dragons may lay up to 30 eggs in underground nests during the dry season. Females may defend their nest for a period of time after egg laying. Incubation takes approximately 8-9 months. To maintain their body temperatures, Komodos bask in the morning sun and avoid temperature extremes by using shady areas in the afternoon and burrows at night.

How They’re Doing
Komodo dragons are in danger. The species suffers natural and human threats--a small range, increasing human populations, poaching, volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis (tidal waves). The Indonesian government established Komodo National Park in 1980 to protect dragons, and considers it a national treasure.

Komodo Monitor

The saliva of the Komodo dragon contains close to 50 types of bacteria, many of wich are highly toxic.

Komodo dragons are capable of stretching and unhinging their jaws, which enables them to eat large prey. They usually consume their prey whole, but will tear in into pieces if necessary.

Infant Komodo dragons may roll themselves in the guts and feces of prey animals to mask their smell and avoid being eaten by mature Komodo dragons.

Much like a shark, Komodo dragons go through 4 or 5 sets of teeth throughout their life. Their mouth contains 60 sharp teeth, flattened and serrated, and perfect for cutting and tearing food.

Helpful hints for viewing the animals

At the Minnesota Zoo, our Komodo dragons live in a special exhibit on the Tropics Trail. Look for them basking on “hot rocks,” seven distinct temperature zones in the exhibit, ranging from 78º F to 112º F.

Komodo Monitor

Care at the Zoo

Keeping Komodo dragons healthy in captivity requires giving them special care. This is accomplished by meeting both their physical and psychological needs.

Reptiles rely on heat from their environment to keep themselves warm. On the tropical island homes where Komodo dragons live, the sun keeps the ground warm all day. The Minnesota Zoo is far from the equator, and the average temperature in the Tropics building is 75º F, which is too cool for Komodo dragons. At the zoo, a radiant floor heating system helps keep the dragons warm by circulating hot water through tubing imbedded in the soil covered cement floors and rocks in the exhibit, making them warm for the Komodo dragons. 

Enrichment (providing a stimulating environment) is another way to address the physical and psychological needs of zoo animals. Similar to snakes, Komodo dragons have a sensory organ in the roof of their mouths known as the Jacobson's organ, which they use to “taste” the air and track their prey. With a flick of their forked tongue, dragons capture molecules from the air and transfer them to this special organ, which interprets the smell. In the wild, Komodos are capable of trailing injured prey or smelling carrion from several miles away.

Keepers at the zoo encourage our Komodos to use their natural ability to track prey by creating scent trails. This is done by dragging food items such as dead rats and chickens through the sand and over the plants and logs in the exhibit. After the trail is created, the dragons are let out into the enclosure to hunt for the food located along and at the end of the trail.  

In addition to food enrichment, habitat or environmental enrichment is also important for the Komodo dragons. Large branches to perch on, heated pools to soak in, and varied heat zones throughout the exhibit all provide opportunities for our Komodo dragons to exhibit natural behavior. 

Meet the Animals

Minnesota Zoo’s original Komodo dragons were a gift from the President of Indonesia where they are a national treasure.

Things you can do

Your visit to the Zoo helps support our conservation programs. You can also sponsor an animal at the Zoo.

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Komodo Monitor

Komodo dragons are endangered due in part to their limited range. Komodo National Park, established in 1980, and strict anti-poaching laws have helped protect the dragons.

Things the Zoo's done/doing

The Minnesota Zoo is active in the Komodo Dragon Species Survival Program (SSP), a captive breeding program designed to maintain a genetically healthy population of dragons in captivity. In 2002, on the recommendation of the SSP, one of the Minnesota Zoo’s Komodos was sent to the Toronto Zoo to be paired with two female dragons. The breeding was successful and in 2003, “Satu,” meaning “number one,” was the first Komodo dragon hatched in Canada!

In 1998, BJ Schoeberl, Minnesota Zoo Tropics Supervisor, traveled to Indonesia with five other zoo professionals to collect information on wild Komodo dragons. While there, she observed a wild female nesting and hatchlings emerging from a burrow. The data she helped collect has been extremely helpful to the successful management and breeding of Komodos through the Komodo DragonSSP.

  

Conservation Notes

The limited range of the remaining wild Komodo dragons puts them at risk from human encroachment, decline or loss of prey, habitat loss, competition with exotic species, and natural catastrophes. Legal protection of Komodos has reduced commercial hunting, but they are sometimes poisoned by villagers to protect children and domestic animals. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has classified this species as endangered and there is now an area designated as Komodo National Park where the animals are protected.

Komodo Monitor

Komodo dragons are the largest of the world’s living lizards. The largest confirmed specimen measured 10 feet 2 inches and weighed 350 pounds! Males grow to 7-9 feet and weigh approximately 200 pounds or more, while females attain a length of 6-8 feet. Young monitors can be colorful, with hues of yellow, green and white banding, and dots on a dark background. As they mature, they change to dull black, gray, or green. Young Komodos are slender and have longer tails. Adults are much heavier, with tails making up about half of their total body length.

Range and Habitat
Komodo dragons exist in a very small area of approximately 400 square miles, and are found on several small Indonesian islands including Komodo, Rinca, and the western end of Flores. They inhabit dry open grasslands and savannas, and lowland tropical forests. These areas are commonly hot and dry for much of the year, but are subjected to a short monsoon season in January, when most of the year's 35 inches of rain occurs.

Like other reptiles, Komodos rely on their environment to regulate their body temperature. They prefer a body temperature of approximately 97º F and spend much of their day trying to achieve and maintain their optimal temperature. To do this, they seek out warm areas in the morning, cool areas during the hottest parts of the day, and may burrow to conserve body heat overnight.

Diet
Young Komodo dragons feed on arboreal lizards and insects. As they grow and become more terrestrial, they will prey opportunistically on most anything available, from rodents and snakes to birds and their eggs. Large dragons feed on goats, deer, boars, and even 1,000 pound water buffalo. Very large prey is usually an animal that is sick or weak. Komodos are cannibalistic, so smaller individuals and eggs are occasionally eaten by larger ones.

Hunting
Komodos often ambush their prey by hiding along game trails. Their teeth are set loosely in their jaws allowing for the build-up of deadly bacteria in their mouth and saliva. Once bitten, infection takes hold. Injured prey may escape death temporarily, only to be consumed as carrion later after dying of infection. Using their forked tongue for smell and taste, dragons can track a dying animal over a 5-mile range. Although rare, there have been cases of humans being consumed or killed by Komodo dragons.

Habits and Adaptations
Komodo dragons are cannibals-known for eating their eggs and young. As soon as hatchlings dig out of their nest (sometimes taking several days), they run for the trees for protection. This strategy is not always successful, as adult Komodos will sometimes shake nearby trees hoping to eat any prey that falls.

Young dragons are well adapted for an arboreal life. Their coloration provides camouflage and a slender body, long tail, and sharp claws enable them to move through the trees. As they become older, their color changes and their bodies grow too large to remain in trees. They eventually become terrestrial, interacting with other Komodos and learning to feed on larger prey.

Reproduction
Much of what scientists know about Komodo dragon reproduction is from information gathered in zoos. In the wild, Komodo monitors lay eggs during the dry months of July through September. Nests are dug in the ground, covered and left unguarded to incubate for 8 or 9 months. The exact number of eggs laid in the wild is unknown, however, four clutches of eggs produced at National and Cincinnati Zoos have ranged from 24 to 29 eggs. Eggs incubated artificially have hatched at approximately 210 days, when kept at 85.1º F. Dragons born in captivity are born approximately 15 to 18 inches long and have reached lengths of more that 4 feet by two years of age. Scientists believe Komodo dragons mature at about 5-6 years of age.