Meet Batu – A Living Dragon!!!
To honour St George’s Day 2025, we caught up with Jamie Gilks, Section Leader for Lizards & Invertebrates here at Crocodiles of the World, who has answered your questions about our Komodo Dragon Batu…the world’s largest living lizard and a living dragon! (Well, in name anyway!)
How old is Batu?
Batu turned 14 on the 14th March 2025.
How long is he?
He is almost 2.6m
What does he weigh?
He currently weighs 62kg on an empty stomach. Batu is weighed once a month.
What does he eat?
We try and vary his diet as much as possible. Some of his regular food items are Rats, Rabbit, Chicken, & Quail. His absolute favourite is Deer though.
Does he have a fasting period?
We feed Batu on a feast and fast regime. He has one large meal/carcass feed a month. We will also offer him a few smaller feeds throughout the month, but the frequency and volume of these feeds will often vary depending on his body condition, behaviour, and how large his last carcass feed was. Batu will eat anywhere between 5-11kg per month.
Does he have a favourite keeper?
I don’t think he has a favourite keeper in particular, he’s always happy to see anyone with food.
Are there any developments finding him a mate?
Not at the moment, but I’m sure this is something we would like to pursue in the future.
Anything else you want to tell us about Batu?
Batu is a great ambassador for his species, not only does he help raise funds for the Komodo Survival Programme through his experiences but he also contribute to research projects over the years helping us to learn more about these iconic animals.
You can meet Batu too with our Komodo Dragon Keeper Experience:
Here you can see how we weigh Batu, this was filmed five years ago, but the same procedure applies…
