Have you ever seen a small lizard in a garden? How
about a giant lizard? In the rainy, island country of
Indonesia, there are between 4,000 and 5,000 giant
lizards called Komodo dragons. They are called Komodo
dragons because one of the five islands they live on is
called Komodo Island. They are the largest species of
lizard in the world. Adult Komodos can grow to more than
three meters long and weigh about 70 kilograms. The
largest Komodo ever was an amazing 166 kilograms!
European scientists discovered them in 1910, and the first two Komodos were kept at
the London Zoo in 1927. When Hollywood producers heard about the giant lizards,
they made a movie in 1933 about a giant gorilla called ‘King Kong.’ The Komodos
can live for about forty or even fifty years. They eat almost anything they can catch;
for example, birds, bird eggs, monkeys, deer and horses. Sometimes they even eat
other, smaller Komodos, and sometimes (but not often) even people. They especially
like to eat dead and dying animals which they can smell many kilometers away.
There are only about fifty Komodo dragons in zoos around the world, located mostly in
Indonesia, Europe and North
America. Because there are so few
of them living in the wild, a park –
called Komodo National Park –
was opened in Indonesia in 1980
to protect them from hunters.