An Ethogram for Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis) in the Wild
Abstract
The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, is an endemic species protected by Indonesian law, mostly due to its population size and limited distribution. The natural distribution of the Komodo dragon is limited to Komodo National Park and several areas on the island of Flores and its surroundings. However, increasing population and tourism in its natural habitat might increase the conflict between the Komodo dragon and humans. To study the impact of human activities on the behavior of the Komodo dragon, we constructed an ethogram to catalog the behavioral inventories of the Komodo to enable future quantitative comparison. The Komodo dragon ethogram was obtained from observations in Loh Buaya and Loh Baru Resorts, Rinca Island, Komodo National Park. Observations were made on 10 adult males, 13 adult females, 12 sub-adult, and 3 juvenile Komodo dragons. Data were collected during July-September 2019, February-March 2020, and June-September 2020. Based on observations, observed behavior was grouped into 9 categories based on their function. Among them are sexual behavior, parental behavior, antagonistic behavior, ingestion/egestion, maintenance, movement, resting, and investigative.
Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Media Konservasi is an open access journal, meaning that all content is freely available without charge to the user or their institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without needing to request prior permission from the publisher or the author.
All articles published by Media Konservasi are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This allows for unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided proper credit is given to the original authors.
Authors submitting manuscripts should understand and agree that the copyright of published manuscripts is retained by the authors. Copyright encompasses the exclusive rights of authors to reproduce, distribute, and sell any part of the journal articles in all forms and media. Reproduction of any part of this journal, its storage in databases, and its transmission by any form or media is allowed without written permission from Media Konservasi.
