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| Subspecies: | Unknown |
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| Est. World Population: | 1383 |
| CITES Status: | NOT LISTED |
| IUCN Status: | Endangered |
| U.S. ESA Status: | NOT LISTED |
| Body Length: | |
| Tail Length: | |
| Shoulder Height: | |
| Weight: | |
| Top Speed: | |
| Jumping Ability: | (Horizontal) |
| Life Span: | in the Wild |
| Life Span: | in Captivity |
| Sexual Maturity: | (Females) |
| Sexual Maturity: | (Males) |
| Litter Size: | |
| Gestation Period: | |
Habitat:
Individuals have been encountered in a variety of the habitats on Komodo, including monsoon forest, savanna, steppe, mangrove forest and littoral habitats (Auffenberg 1980). It is most abundant in savanna and monsoon forest (Auffenberg 1980). Results of occupancy studies indicate that it prefers forest vegetation in a savanna grassland matrix, and high montane closed montane forest (Jessop et al. in prep.). Juveniles actively search for prey on the ground and in trees (being arboreal for the first year of life - Jessop et al. in prep.), while the terrestrial adults ambush their prey - hatchlings are strictly arboreal (Ciofi in Pianka et al. 2004). It has a wide prey base, but appears to especially prey on deer, wild pigs and water buffalo (Auffenberg 1980, Koch et al. 2013). In the wild females mature between 6–7 years, and mostly breed annually, however, some also biennial (Jessop et al. in prep.). Males reach maturity at 17 kg (Jessop et al. in prep.). Generation length has been estimated to be 15 years (Jessop et al. in prep.). Up to 30 eggs are laid in nests excavated in the soil (Auffenberg 1980); clutch sizes average at 18 eggs and incubation lasts approx. 220 days at around 28°C (Auliya and Koch 2020, and references therein). Jessop et al. (in prep.) estimated numbers of offspring to successfully hatch as 20 ± 2.5 hatchlings based on a sample of nine fenced nests.
Range:
The Komodo Dragon occurs in eight discrete subpopulations: three on Flores (including the outlying Longos and Ontoloe Islands); and five on islands within Komodo National Park: Komodo, Rinca, Padar (from which it was lost in the late 1970s but a small subpopulation now exists following recolonization in 2004 and at least one subsequent deliberate translocation), Nusa Kode and Gili Motang (Jessop et al. in prep.). The area of suitable habitat which is actually occupied by this species has been estimated at around 809 km2, based on a combination of systematic direct animal trapping and camera trap observations at around 550 localities throughout the range between 2002 and 2019 (Jessop et al. in prep.). This small area of occupancy relative to the size of the species' range (with only 509 km2 of suitable habitat found on Flores, the largest island within its range with an area of 16,000 km2) is thought to reflect a combination of abiotic factors, the species' ecological preferences, and the impacts of anthropogenic habitat loss and degradation on Flores (Jessop et al. in prep.). There appears to have been a slow decline in the species' area of occupancy based on comparison with surveys conducted by Auffenberg (1969–1970), estimated at around 12% over a three-generation (45 year) period and driven entirely by a reduction in occupancy on Flores (principally in the island's northwest), with no evidence of any change in occupancy on Komodo (Jessop et al. in prep.).
Conservation:
Jessop et al. (in prep.) recommend that the genetically highly divergent North Flores and Komodo National Park subpopulations be manged as two separate management units. It is listed in CITES Appendix I. This species occurs in the Komodo National Park, and several other protected areas. More research is needed to understand the temperature increase caused by the climate change effects on this species (S. Reilly, D. Iskandar, and E. Arida pers. comm. 2019).