Endangered
Komodo dragon
Varanus komodoensis
The Komodo dragon, also known as the Komodo monitor, is a large reptile of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Dasami, and Gili Motang.
Appearance
The largest wild specimen had a length 3.04 m (10 ft), a snout-vent length (SVL) 1.54 m (5 ft 1 in) and a mass of 81.5 kg (180 lb) excluding stomach contents. It also has a long, yellow, deeply forked tongue. Like many other monitors species, Komodo dragon skin is reinforced by armoured scales, that contain tiny bones called osteoderms that function as a sort of natural chain-mail.
The heaviest reached a mass of 87.4 kg (193 lb).
In the wild, adult Komodo dragons usually weigh around 70 kg (150 lb), although captive specimens often weigh more.
Published measurements include mass about 70 and length about 1.5.
Range and habitat
The Komodo dragon, also known as the Komodo monitor, is a large reptile of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Dasami, and Gili Motang. In the wild, their range has been reduced by human encroachment and is likely to contract further from the effects of climate change. Hence, they are listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List.
Komodo National Park was founded in 1980 to protect Komodo dragon populations on islands among them Komodo, Rinca, and Padar. Later, the Wae Wuul and Wolo Tado Reserves were opened on Flores to aid Komodo dragon conservation.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
As an ectotherm, it is most active in the day, although it exhibits some nocturnal activity. Komodo dragons are solitary, coming together only to breed and eat.
To catch out-of-reach prey, the Komodo dragon may stand on its hind legs and use its tail as a support. As it matures, its claws are used primarily as weapons, as its great size makes climbing impractical.
In crisis
The largest extant population lives within the Komodo National Park in Eastern Indonesia. As a result of their size, that is exceptional among reptiles, Komodo dragons are apex predators, dominating the ecosystems in that they live. Komodo dragons hunt and ambush prey. Juveniles take small prey like invertebrates or birds, and adults favour larger mammals, occasionally even attacking humans.
Young Komodo dragons are vulnerable and dwell in trees to avoid predators, among them cannibalistic adults, that young Komodo dragons also try to repel by rolling in feces. In 2013, the total population of Komodo dragons in the wild was assessed as 3,222 individuals, declining to 3,092 in 2014 and 3,014 in 2015.
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix I. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
Komodo dragon is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Komodo dragon, Wikidata item Q4504. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
