What Do Komodo Dragons Eat?

Komodo dragons are carnivores who will eat anything that crosses their path, including humans. They prefer to hunt live prey, but as they have huge appetites if they find any dead animals they will consume them, too. Large adult Komodo dragons typically eat large mammals introduced to the habitat by humans, including pigs, goats, deer, dogs, horses, and water buffalo. 

Animals that are indigenous to their habitat, such as small rodents, deer, wild boar, and monkeys, are also on the menu. Smaller or younger Komodo dragons target prey closer to their own size and eat insects, smaller lizards, rodents, birds, and snakes.

A Komodo dragon will eat another Komodo dragon, with the bigger of the species hunting the smaller like any other prey. The threat from other Komodos begins immediately after they are born. The juvenile pups begin hunting their own following hatching. Due to larger Komodos preferring mammals on the ground, the smaller ones are more inclined to use their climbing abilities and scale trees to hunt for food and evade any attacks from their bigger counterparts. Young Komodo dragons will also roll in the fecal matter of larger dragons in order to cover their scent and try to avoid detection.

The species remarkably has a stomach that is able to expand when needed, so it’s possible for them to consume up to 80% of their body weight. If a large Komodo dragon weighs 330 pounds, it is capable of eating 264 pounds of meat in one meal!

The Komodo