Free Teacher Resources
A Komodo dragon walking on dry, rocky ground.
Photo: James Jolokia (james1203), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Komodo Dragon

Varanus komodoensis

The largest living lizard, a venomous predator found only on a few Indonesian islands that can smell food miles away.

🦎 Lizards
Checking teacher reviews…
Teacher? Sign in to review this page →Report a mistake

About the Komodo Dragon

Komodo dragons live in tropical savanna forests on a few Indonesian islands, including Komodo, Flores, Rinca and Padar. They flick their forked tongues to sample the air and can smell a dead animal up to 2.5 miles away. Komodo dragons can briefly run 10 to 13 miles per hour. Young dragons eat small lizards, insects, snakes and birds.[1]

Quick facts

Scientific name
Varanus komodoensis[1]
Size
The largest verified one was 10.3 feet (3.13 m) long.[1]
Weight
Wild adults typically about 154 pounds (70 kg). The largest verified weighed 366 pounds.[1]
Lifespan
About 30 years in the wild.[1]
Diet
Carnivore. Eats carrion and live prey; young eat small lizards, insects, snakes and birds.[1]
Habitat
Tropical savanna forests.[1]
Where it lives
A few Indonesian islands in the Lesser Sundas: Komodo, Flores, Rinca and Padar.[1]
Babies
About 30 eggs, which hatch after about nine months. Hatchlings are about 16 inches long.[1]
Conservation status
Endangered (IUCN Red List, assessed 2019).[2]

Fun facts

  • The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard in the world.[1]
  • A Komodo dragon can smell a dead animal up to 2.5 miles (4 km) away.[1]
  • A Komodo dragon can eat up to 80 percent of its body weight in one meal.[1]
  • Komodo dragons have a venomous bite.[1]

Vocabulary

venom
A poison an animal puts into another animal by biting or stinging.
forked tongue
A tongue split into two tips, used by lizards and snakes to smell.
carrion
The meat of an animal that is already dead.
hatchling
A baby animal that has just come out of its egg.
endangered
A conservation label meaning a species faces a very high risk of dying out in the wild.

See it in person

Sources

  1. [1] Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute. “Komodo dragon.” https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/komodo-dragon (accessed 2026-10-02)
  2. [2] IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. “Varanus komodoensis (Komodo Dragon).” https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22884/123633058 (accessed 2026-10-02)

Facts last checked 2026-10-02.

More Lizards

A Guatemalan beaded lizard with bumpy black and yellow banded skin climbing a tree trunk.Guatemalan Beaded LizardHeloderma charlesbogertiAn endangered venomous lizard that lives only in one dry valley in eastern Guatemala and helped lead to a diabetes medicine.A gray rhinoceros iguana with horn-like bumps on its snout standing on rocky ground.Rhinoceros IguanaCyclura cornutaAn endangered plant-eating lizard found only on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, named for the horn-like scales on its snout.A green Solomon Islands skink climbing on tree branches.Solomon Islands SkinkCorucia zebrataThe world's largest skink, a tree-dwelling, mostly vegetarian lizard of the Solomon Islands with a tail that can grab branches.