D i e t

What do Komodo dragons eat?
Meat, meat and more meat. Komodo dragons are strictly carnivorous. Adults eat more Sunda deer (Cervus timorensis, also known as Rusa deer) than anything else. They also eat wild boar, water buffalo, rats and many other animals...including young Komodos. Much of what Komodos eat is carrion (already dead meat.)

Okay, what do young dragons eat, and how do they avoid being eaten?
When they hatch out of their eggs, baby dragons are typically 12 to 15 inches long, and weigh less than 4 ounces (1/4 pound). For the first few years of their lives they spend much of their time up in the trees, to avoid being eaten by adult Komodos. During this time they mostly eat insects (especially grasshoppers and beetles) and smaller reptiles (especially geckos).

At about 4 years old and 4 feet long, a young Komodo is large enough to (usually) escape its predatory elders, and has become too large to be safely supported by the smallish trees in the monsoon forest. For the rest of its life it will be primarily terrestrial.

Back to the adults: How do they catch their prey? And hey, what's this I hear about deadly saliva?
Komodos can briefly run as fast as, or faster than, a person. They can run up to 11.185 miles per hour. However, they do not chase their prey. Typically they wait in tall vegetation until deer or other animals come along, then lunge at the intended prey.

Sometimes the Komodo is able to subdue and kill the prey; sometimes it misses entirely; sometimes it inflicts a bite wound but the prey animal gets away...at least temporarily. A prey animal that has escaped but been bitten is not likely to survive long. The saliva of Komodos contains 50-some species of bacteria, at least seven of which cause severe (usually deadly) blood poisoning. A deer bitten by a Komodo will usually die within a week of being bitten, often within two to four days, and thus becomes food for Komodos, as it intended all along. Even if the prey manages to die without being seen by any Komodos, the smell of its decomposing body will attract dragons.

Like many reptiles, Komodo dragons have an excellent sense of smell. They can use their long tongues, and the Jacobson's organ on the roof of their mouths, to detect rotting carrion at great distances. Research Dr. Walter Auffenberg was able to determine that Komodos can smell carrion up to 6 ¾ miles away.

Can you tell me anything about the "table manners" of Komodo dragons?
Apparently, Emily Post never visited the Komodos. When a large prey animal has died, and its scent wafts in the humid tropical breezes, Komodos may come from far and wide to feed on the carcass. The larger, older adults have priority, with smaller, younger Komodos darting in to grab what they can. Almost all parts of the prey animal are consumed, with the Komodos using their very sharp teeth to tear off large hunks of meat.

The shape of the komodo's teeth is rare for lizards but commonly seen in sharks. And, partly because of the competition from other Komodos, the prey is consumed quickly, at the rate of up to 5.5 pounds per minute. Auffenberg once saw a 93-pound dragon devour most of a 66-pound wild boar in only 17 minutes, and states flatly that a Komodo can eat up to 80 percent of its body weight in one meal! However, when a dragon scores a really major meal, it may not need to eat again for several days.

How can a LIZARD be a top predator?!
Komodo dragons are the top predator on the islands they inhabit, in contrast to the situation in most parts of the world, where mammals usually sit atop the food chain. Scientists theorize that one reason for this is the fact that prey animals are relatively scarce within the dragons' range, and that the Komodo (like all reptiles) needs less food to survive than mammals. Auffenberg points out that a tiger needs about 12 pounds of food a day, and a wolf needs about 7 pounds. A Komodo dragon, by comparison, can get by with a little over a pound a day. On these island in eastern Indonesia, other predators would starve to death...Komodos survive.