The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard. It is a kind of monitor lizard. Komodo dragons live on a few islands in Indonesia. They live in hot, grassy forests.

Most wild Komodo dragons weigh about 154 pounds. The heaviest one that was checked weighed 366 pounds. The longest one was 10.3 feet long. Males grow bigger than females.

A Komodo dragon lives and hunts alone. It waits in one spot for food to come by. It eats deer. It eats dead animals that it finds, too.

A Komodo dragon finds food mainly by smell. It uses its long, forked tongue to sample the air. Its teeth are curved, with tiny notches. It has long claws. It has a big, strong tail.

A female Komodo dragon lays about 30 eggs. The eggs take about eight months to hatch.

A young Komodo dragon is green with yellow and black bands. An adult is dull brown or gray. Babies climb trees and live in them. A young one eats small animals. It eats lizards, insects and geckos.

Words to know

• lizard: scaly animal
• monitor: kind of lizard
• forked: split in two
• geckos: small lizards