Komodo dragon
Amazing fact
The Komodo dragon opens its lower jaw wide and swallows chunks of meat.
Smithsonian's National Zoo
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An illustration based on the real animal.
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The Komodo dragon opens its lower jaw wide and swallows chunks of meat.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Komodo dragon
- Scientific name
- Varanus komodoensis
- Japanese name
- コモドオオトカゲ（コモドドラゴン）
- Group
- Amphibians and reptiles
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Varanidae
- Genus
- Varanus
A lizard found on a few islands of Indonesia. The young live up in trees until they grow bigger, which keeps them from being eaten.
A big lizard with a long tail and sturdy legs. It samples smells in the air with its long, yellow, forked tongue.
It also searches out and eats the meat of dead animals. It may wait quietly beside an animal trail to ambush big prey such as deer.
How the Komodo dragon lives
During the day, it roams its home range. Young dragons eat small lizards and insects, among other prey. It shelters in a snug burrow from daytime heat and at night.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebSmithsonian's National ZooBasic data
- Size
- up to 3.1 m
- Weight
- up to 165 kg
- Active
- By day (diurnal)
- Range
- Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia
Where the Komodo dragon has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 简体中文
- 科摩多巨蜥
- 繁體中文
- 科摩多巨蜥
- 한국어
- 코모도왕도마뱀
- Español
- Dragón de Komodo
- Français
- Dragon de Komodo
- Deutsch
- Komodowaran
- Português (Brasil)
- Dragão-de-komodo
- Italiano
- Varano di Komodo
- हिन्दी
- कोमोडो ड्रैगन
- العربية
- تنين كومودو
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Biawak komodo
- Tiếng Việt
- Rồng Komodo
- Русский
- Комодский варан
- Türkçe
- Komodo ejderi
- ไทย
- มังกรโกโมโด
- বাংলা
- কোমোডো ড্রাগন
- اردو
- کوموڈو ڈریگن
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- Smithsonian's National Zoo — Komodo dragonChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Varanus komodoensisChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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