KOMODO DRAGON BEHAVIOR: FIGHTING, REPRODUCTION, JUVENILES

KOMODO DRAGON BEHAVIOR

Komodo dragons are terricolous (live on the ground), diurnal (active during the daytime), arboreal (can live in trees), sedentary (remain in the same area), and have dominance hierarchies (ranking systems or pecking orders among members of a long-term social group, where dominance status affects access to resources or mates). The home range of Komodo dragons approximately 1.9 square kilometers in size. They do not defend these home ranges, so ranges can overlap, but if food is found in a shared area, the dominant dragon gets to eat first. [Source: Leanne Lawwell, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

Komodo dragons spend most of their 30 to 50 lifespan alone, hanging out at the transition between forests and savannahs. They mark their territory fecal pellets that carry their scent, often left at intersection of trails, and other well-trodden places. There weight is enough to tamp down the soil. About the only time they join other dragons is when they gather around a kill. In zoos, Komodo dragons recognize their keepers. One scientist said Komodo dragons have "an intelligence and a ability to communicate beyond anything I've seen in a reptile."

When food is found, the largest males are always first to eat, followed by smaller males and females, and then by juveniles who descend from the trees to eat once the adults have left. After a group feeding "each party returns to its piece of the island to bask, rest, hunt and dig a shelter. Monitors lay down an impressive trail of personal scents to claim a place and isolate themselves. By keeping other monitors out of their personal hunting range, they’re assured of having enough prey to satisfy their prodigious appetites (with enough left over to share). This kind of rationing makes good ecological sense, especially for a species that lives within the finite borders of islands.” +++

Komodo Dragon Burrows and Daily Life

Adults spend much of their day in a resting spot on the ground called a form, where they wait for prey and bask in the sun, Before they settle down they carefully remove vegetation and leaf litter. They generally don't move around much at night and wait to be heated by the sun before moving around in the day. They usually go to sleep around sunset and sleep in brush, a cave or a burrow.

Komodo dragons dig burrows that they retreat into at night and when the weather is very hot. Their favorite burrowing spots are clay banks along creeks and in open hillsides where the forest meets the savannah. Digging like dogs, the reptiles use their powerful legs and sharp claws to tear into the earth, send excavating material shooting behind the. They have been observed digging holes almost 10 meters deep but generally their burrows are large enough for them to curl up in a U-position with their head and tail at the burrow opening. Sometimes the dragons use holes dug by other animals such as civets or wild pigs. They have also been observed using natural cavities such as rock crevices or tree hollows.

According to the book “Beastly Behaviors”: “Like other cold-blooded reptiles, Komodo dragons are sluggish in the morning and are generally not active until after 9:00am, often spending three hours backing in the sun to heat up their bodies enough so they can move around. To warm up as much of their body as possible, the dragons often bask in a spread-eagle position, with their belly on the ground. They also bask after feeding as heat is need ed for digestion. Without it the food could rot in their stomachs and kill them. Late in the afternoon, when they need to cool down, they either seek on some shade or dig a burrow, presumably in moist, soft dirt, clay or sand. [Source: “Beastly Behaviors” by Mark Leigh, Mike Lepine, and Rolf Harris, 1997 +++]

Komodo Dragon Aggression and Fighting Behavior

Komodo dragons showing aggression react to the threat with their eyes and puff out their throats. When fighting Komodo dragons stand on their hind legs, lock arms and chests and push each other around like a couple of sumo wrestlers.

Komodo dragon threat behavior consists of: 1) gaping (opening the mouth and exposing the teeth); 2) tail bowing (arching the tail back from a rival as if ‘winding up’ to strike; 3) standing broadside (expanding and arching the neck, raising the back and jacking up the body to appear as large and threatening; 4) lashing the tail back and forth; and 5) hissing and foaming at the mouth. [Source:“Beastly Behaviors” by Mark Leigh, Mike Lepine, and Rolf Harris, 1997 +++]

If a rival doesn’t back off, retreat and show appeasement in another form, the Komodo dragon may attack bu tail lashing, biting or lunging. You can usually tell the dominant reptile or winning by the way it lowers its head and curves its neck into an S-shape, Occasionally. Combatants will stand up on their hind legs and grab each other’s forearms and grapple with each other like a pair of hugging wrestlers, shoving each other back and forth while trying to bite each other. Sometimes the bites are so severe that the loser dies. Finds usually end when the loser retreated or allowed the winner to symbolically mount or scratch him.

Komodo Dragon Reproduction

males fighting

Komodo dragons are polygynandrous (promiscuous), with both males and females having multiple partners, and engage in seasonal breeding. They breed once a year, but females often mate more than once to ensure that their eggs are fertilized. The gestation period can be from 50 days to eight months. On average males and females reach sexual or reproductive maturity at nine and ten years. [Source: Leanne Lawwell, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

Komodo dragons mate in July and August. during the middle of the dry season, which lasts from May through November. It is very difficult to tell the difference between a male and a female monitor lizard. Males out number females by a ratio of 3.4 to 1. Male Komodo dragons have a finger-length forked penis. Describing why the huge lizard is "hemipedal," Dale Marcellini, the chief herpetologist at the National Zoo in Washington told Henry Allen of the Washington Post, "The female's tail is in the way. The male has to approach from one side or the other, and depending on which side he chooses, he’s at an angle, and that's the fork he uses.”

Komodo dragons typically meet and pursue their mates at the group feeding sessions. So as not come across as overly aggressive, they often perform courtship displays at every meeting even when it is not the breeding season. When the mating season does arrive males and females are well acquainted with one another and unnecessary confrontations and hostility can be avoided During the breeding season males do fight and they may compete for the right to mate by battling in an upright position, with their tails acting as props. [Source: “Beastly Behaviors” by Mark Leigh, Mike Lepine, and Rolf Harris, 1997]

Komodo Dragon Sex and Mating

According to Animal Diversity Web: Males engage in a ritual combat to mate with females. They wrestle in an upright position to try to throw the loser to the ground, often drawing blood. When ready to mate, females give off a scent in their feces that males can detect. Male Komodo dragons then locate the female, rub their chin on her head, scratch her back, and lick her body. If the female exhibits interest, she licks him back. He then grasps her with his claws, lifts her tail with his, and mates with her. After mating, some males will stay with the female for a few days to prevent other males from mating with her. /=\

According to “Beastly Behaviors”: “Courtship begins when the male places his tongue on certain areas of the female’s body; the point where the hind limbs join the body, the area just in front of the ears. And the side of the face. Researchers believe hormones in these areas may tell the male whether the female is ready for mating. Besides tongue touching, the male may also nudge the female with his snout and rub his chin on the sides and top of her body and neck. In turn, she may threaten him, or she may run, causing the male to follow close behind. When he catches up, he may bite her neck and scratch her with his claws to quiet her. [Source: “Beastly Behaviors” by Mark Leigh, Mike Lepine, and Rolf Harris, 1997 +++]

“Even after months of building trust, the act of copulation is still an iffy proposition. Because female monitors are more apt than males to use their teeth and tails in a an attack, the male must clearly signal his intentions to avoid triggering an aggressive response. When it looks as if it’s finally safe, he mounts quickly, biting the female’s neck to anchor himself in place so when he tucks his tail beneath here, their cloacae will line up.” +++

Komodo Dragon Eggs and Nesting Behavior

mating

Komodo dragons are oviparous, meaning that young are hatched from eggs. Females lay 15 to 30 eggs about a month after mating, often in September, to avoid the hot summer months and allow a chance for a second mating. Female Komodo dragons dig a nest chamber in sandy ground for their eggs, bury the eggs and cover them with earth and leaves. They then lie on the nest while the eggs are incubating. The eggs incubate through the wet season, from December to April, and hatch at the beginning of the dry season about eight months after mating.

Zookeepers say the female monitors usually become restless and start breathing faster the day before they lay their eggs. When they lay their eggs on the ground, they straighten their legs, lift their tails and quiver as they deliver the eggs, In the wild they usually place the eggs in an underground nest, perhaps to protect them from the attention of predators, including other monitors,

Females guard their eggs but do not care their young after they hatch. Hatchlings are about 37 centimeters long when they are born. and have a high mortality rate. [Source: Leanne Lawwell, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

Komodo Dragon Young

After they hatch from their eggs newborn Komodo dragons pretty much have to fend for themselves. More or less the first thing they do after they hatch is head for trees, where they are safe from attacks by adult Komodo dragons that often cannibalize young lizards. They live in the trees most of their first year, feeding on insects and geckos. It isn’t until they reach a length of a meter or so that they descend from the tree and start scavenging.

Juvenile Komodo dragons stay in the trees until they are about four feet long. Before that time they feed mostly on insects and small lizards that they can find in the trees, and try to limit their trips on the ground. Later they begin to hunt.

Young Komodo dragons have orange, yellow an black markings on their bodies. These markings are perfect for camouflage in the trees. It was originally thought that there were fewer juveniles than there actually were because scientists could not spot them in the trees. Over time juveniles lose their markings and develop thick, folded, scaled skin that is uniformly brownish gray. They take five years to become sexually mature.

Behavior of Juvenile Komodo Dragons

Young Komodo dragons usually sleep on branches or in tree cavities. Sometimes they sleep on rock outcrops that the adults can’t get at. As they get older they spend more time on the ground and seek safety among nooks among boulders. At this stage in their lives they feed on rats, mice and birds. Juveniles are instinctively nervous around larger lizards and quick to perform appeasement gestures when they meet up with one.

When small Komodo dragons encounter the fecal pellets of another dragon, they check it out thoroughly, often circling around it, tasting it with their tongue for up to 10 minutes. Scientists believe they can sense the age, sex and breeding condition of the pellet producer and sense how long before the pellets were left. Presumably they are especially wary of encountering an old male that may cannibalize them. [Source: “Beastly Behaviors” by Mark Leigh, Mike Lepine, and Rolf Harris, 1997 +++]

Juvenile Komodo dragons have some unusual habits. Instead of eating or avoiding the stomach and intestinal contents of a kill, they roll around in it, possibly so the scent of the nasty stuff goes deep between their scales. Scientists are not sure why they do this. Perhaps it is to hide their smwll so they are not cannibalized by older members of their species. +++

Komodo Dragons Don’t Like to Travel Far

According to a study published in November 2018 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, based on a decade of observations at 10 sites on four islands, Komodo dragons are real homebodies, for the most part never leaving the valley where they were born even though they are capable of traveling long distances through rough terrain. Veronique Greenwood wrote in the New York Times: They just don’t seem to feel like it. “Many island species, as it happens, show a marked tendency to stay close to home. It feels like a bit of a paradox: Their forebears may have arrived on that island through some great feat of survival or exploration, but the present generation prefers familiar comforts. “Once they colonize an island, despite these incredible feats of long-distance dispersal, they decide, ‘Enough is enough!’” said Tim Jessop, the professor of ecology at Deakins University in Australia who led the study. [Source: Veronique Greenwood, New York Times, November 13, 2018]

“The causes of this behavior are likely to differ depending on the species and the situation. But it is puzzling: If animals stay in one place for many generations, they run the risk of inbreeding, facing resource scarcity and other dangers that moving elsewhere could allow them to avoid. Is the problem that komodos are not confident navigators? Over the course of the study, researchers moved seven adult dragons away from their home territory. Some were transported as much as 13.7 miles away on the same islands, while others were ferried across a slip of water just over a mile wide to another island. Within four months, the Komodo dragons transplanted overland all turned up again at home, clearly capable of making a journey. The dragons on the new island — much closer to where they started, and capable of swimming back — stayed put. Swimming home just didn’t seem to be worth the effort, apparently.

One explanation for this sedentary behavior, Dr. Jessop proposed, is that once you’re isolated on an island, any mistakes could be extremely costly. Having a whole continent to move across, with a landscape that changes relatively slowly, would make exploration less risky. But a Komodo dragon that moves to a new island or a new island valley might find that it’s out of luck if, for instance, it’s unable to mate with any of the locals it encounters in its new home. There may also be survival benefits to being intimately familiar with one’s surroundings, like knowing exactly where to find prey.That said, DNA data indicates that dragon populations show signs of inbreeding, and they are vulnerable to local shortages of food and natural disasters. “They stay put almost irrespective of how bad it gets,” Dr. Jessop said. “It’s a bit bewildering.”

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Compton’s Encyclopedia, The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, AFP, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, Global Viewpoint (Christian Science Monitor), Foreign Policy, Wikipedia, BBC, CNN, and various books, websites and other publications.

Last updated February 2025