The Komodo dragon is a dominant predator that is found exclusively on the indonesia's Lesser Sunda Islands and is the heaviestlizard found on earth.
Komodo dragons are highly venomous lizards that have a prehistoric appearance and are a source of numerous legends in Chinese folklore and religion.
The species has a small geographic range on Komodo Island and a few smaller islands north of Australia.
Physical Description
The Komodo dragon is the largest living species of lizard that attains a maximum length of 2-3.5 m (6.6-10.5 ft) and weighs around 70-150 kg (150-300 lb). Because of their large size, Komodo dragons dominate the food chain of the ecosystem in which they thrive.
The species exhibits a variety of colors including shades of gray, blue, orange and olive green. Their skin is robust and highly durable because of the presence of bony plates known as osteoderms. It is easy to identify Komodo dragons because of their sheer size, massive heads, bowed legs and the long, thick tail that is often seen whipping in motion. They have long, forked tongues that are used for detecting prey in the wild.
Locally, the Komodo dragon is referred to as ‘ora’ or ‘land crocodile’ because of their gigantic size and prehistoric appearance. It has been found that Komodo dragons, like most monitor lizards, have an average lifespan of around 25-40 years in the wild. Komodo dragons bred in captivity have a smaller lifespan of only 8-10 years.