Watch This Powerful Komodo Dragon Charge Into The Sea And Ambush A Swimming Deer

Key Points

• A fully grown Komodo Dragon can tackle a much wider range of prey. On their diet list, you will find deer, wild boar, and water buffalo.
• They detect prey by ‘tasting’ the air with their tongues as snakes do, then clamp their jaws quickly to stop the prey from moving away and hold it until it stops moving.
• The Komodo dragon overpowers the deer by lunging at it and biting it on the neck.

Komodo dragons are opportunistic carnivores and efficient hunters. This was an opportunity too good to miss! As the video at the bottom of this page shows, they are perfectly willing to wade into the ocean to grab unsuspecting prey. The victim in this clip looks as if it could be a sunda deer. They are one of the animals that adult Komodo dragons target.

Where Do Komodo Dragons Live?

Komodo dragons are an endemic species of south-east Indonesia. As well as on the island of Komodo, they are found on several other small islands including Flores, Rinca, and Gili Dasami. Nevertheless, their largest habitat is on the island of Komodo from which they take their name and where they occupy the entire island. In fact, the Komodo National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has been since 1980.

Their preferred habitats are arid and mountainous environments. They can be found in rocky valleys and flat savannas – and on beaches!

What Do Komodo Dragons Normally Eat?

These impressive reptiles catch their own meat or feed on carrion. The hatchlings start off by feeding on beetles and grasshoppers. As they grow, they move on to larger insects, small lizards, and birds and their eggs. Later, they will be able to catch larger lizards, rats and shrews, and larger birds.

In this clip, we see a fully grown adult who can tackle a much wider range of prey. On their diet list, you will find deer, wild boar, and water buffalo. They even eat small Komodo dragons! Where human settlements are near their habitats, they have been known to pinch domestic goats!

How Do Komodo Dragons Hunt?

In this clip, you see the Komodo dragon overpower the deer by lunging at it and biting it on the neck. This is a pretty standard Komodo dragon hunting method. They detect prey by ‘tasting’ the air with their tongues as snakes do. They clamp their jaws quickly to stop the prey from moving away and hold it until it stops moving. Because the Komodos have venom-producing glands, the prey soon becomes incapacitated.

Large prey is torn up before being swallowed in chunks. One deer such as this one is enough to keep the Komodo dragon satisfied for about a month along with a few snacks of birds and rats!

View This Incredible Footage Below!

Komodo Dragon Sizes

Komodo dragons have an impressive size, especially when fully grown. As juveniles, they typically weigh around 15-20 pounds and measure around 2 feet. As they grow, they are able to reach a size of up to 10 feet long and can weigh up to 200 pounds. They are considered to be the largest lizard species in the world.

At hatching, they are just 6-8 inches long and weigh less than 1 ounce. As they grow, their size will increase rapidly, and they can grow up to 2 feet in just one year. By the time they are two years old, they can be as big as 4 feet in length and weigh up to 35 pounds.

In adulthood, they can reach a maximum size of up to 10 feet long and weigh up to 200 pounds. These lizards can also be extremely long-lived, with some specimens reaching up to 30 years old.