Komodo Dragon

The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard species, found only on a handful of Indonesian islands including Komodo, Rinca and Flores, where adults can grow to around three metres in length and weigh well over sixty kilograms. It is an apex predator capable of taking down prey as large as deer, water buffalo and, occasionally, humans, using a combination of a powerful bite delivered with sharp, serrated teeth and venom glands that impair blood clotting and cause shock in the victim. Komodo dragons are also skilled scavengers with an extraordinarily keen sense of smell that can detect carrion from several kilometres away, and they are capable of short bursts of speed despite their bulk. Confined to a very small total range and threatened by habitat loss, poaching of its prey species and rising sea levels affecting its low-lying island habitat, the species is classified as endangered.