Conserving Komodo Dragons

Komodo dragon populations are scattered across a handful of habitats in the Lesser Sunda chain of islands, including the isles of Flores, Rinca and Komodo, from where they draw their name.

Their island homes are affected by rising sea levels and increasing temperatures, while their natural prey, which include wild deer and pigs, are competing for space and food with farmed livestock. This means the dragons’ food supplies and habitats are dwindling. There may be fewer than 1,400 adult Komodo dragons now living in the wild, and around 2,000 juveniles. Chester Zoo is providing practical and financial support to the Komodo Survival Programme (KSP), an Indonesian non-governmental organisation which is the only non-profit solely focused on protecting this charismatic species.

While the Komodo dragons in our care at the zoo are supporting the species as part of an international breeding programme, our teams have travelled to Indonesia to help KSP detect and protect dragons in the wild.

More than a decade ago, we embarked on a multi-year project to locate and learn about Komodo dragons. At the time, there was little concrete data about the full range and distribution of this species, which made it difficult to identify where conservation efforts should be focused.

From 2015 to 2018, our researchers joined experienced Indonesian conservationists to comb the tropical dry forests and coastal mangrove regions of Flores to find out precisely where the world’s largest lizard still lingers. While dragons on Rinca, Komodo and three other islands live within the protected Komodo National Park, the population on Flores is fragmented and survives in unprotected niches.

Working in partnership with KSP, we have helped tag Komodo dragons for long-term monitoring. This involves finding and gently restraining individual animals for the safety of both the researchers and the dragons – Komodo dragons can deliver a life-threatening bite thanks to their strong jaws and toxic saliva – before measuring and microchipping them. This way, the researchers established a baseline for the health and habits of the Flores dragons. KSP and Chester Zoo researchers have used this data to evaluate the stability of Komodo dragon populations in recent years. Known dragon habitats are still being monitored using camera traps set up in the surveyed areas.

Unlike on Rinca and Komodo islands, where Komodo dragon tourism is well established, the dragons on Flores are not a distinctive part of the local economy.

By funding KSP’s work, we are also helping reduce human-dragon conflict, by promoting community projects which protect the species.

This work builds on the traditions of communities living on the Sunda Islands, drawing on creation stories that depict the Komodo dragon as a twin spirit to an ancestor of the local peoples.

This mythology is well known on Komodo island but is not as established on Flores. By sharing these stories, conservationists are helping position Komodo dragons as culturally important animals which deserve respect and protection.

Now KSP, with support from Chester Zoo, is entering a new phase of their project to protect Komodo dragons.

This includes carrying out more detailed camera trap surveys and surveys of scat samples left by the dragons of Flores, which will help build a picture of their diet and available prey.

The community-focused aspects of the project also continue. This includes carrying out a large survey of public attitudes towards dragons, awareness raising in schools and delivering training sessions that will teach people vital conservation skills.

Komodo dragons are survivors from a distant era. We want to ensure they have a future.