In March of last year, the eggs of Ora, the female Komodo dragon from Bioparc Fuengirola, hatched after a long incubation of almost eight months. At that time Juanito, Fénix, Embum, Drakaris and Saya were born. These five small Komodo dragons became the first to be born in Spain in the last ten years, and the fifth successful hatching of this species in all of Europe. Almost a year and a half old, and after guaranteeing all the necessary adaptation periods, the Bioparc Fuengirola Herpetology team has moved them to an outdoor terrarium, designed expressly for them, and where visitors will be able to discover these little Komodos. .

Until now and from the first moment, the offspring have lived separately from their parents, completely independently, just as happens in nature. This behavior has been respected by the team, which has kept the babies in separate terrariums during their first months of life and, as they have grown, they have held several meetings to check how similar their characters were. This adaptation time has also allowed the Herpetology team to closely monitor the diet of each of them, their health and behaviors.

After a first coexistence in pairs, four of the five offspring have finally been brought together. “This union – Fénix, Embum, Drakaris and Saya – has been the most complicated, since each one has a character and, the most dominant, Saya and Fénix mark the limits. But coexistence is now very normal: there are some fights over sun areas and food. Something common,” explains Milagros Robledo, head of Herpetology.

Juanito: special circumstances and a sad ending

The first hatching of the first egg was accompanied by another surprise: during the almost eight months of incubation, Juanito had not been alone, but grew up with another little one, his twin. Although in the end it did not hatch alive, it developed almost completely, which allowed the Veterinary and Herpetology team to study the malformations that this twin presented and thus be able to delve deeper into the possible causes of his death.

The particularities of Juanito's birth have meant that, throughout this time, his growth was slower than the rest of the group and he needed special care: feeding, check-ups, etc. But the team soon suspected that something was wrong. At the end of 2023 they already noticed that Juanito was not moving well, he had a proprioception deficit in his hands and feet, revealing some type of pathology in the nervous system. Juanito's small size made a live diagnosis practically impossible, but it is surely a malformation during incubation. His twin brother who appeared dead in the egg had severe deformations of the skull, jaw and spine. Although they were not apparent in Juanito, it is more than possible that there were injuries. Finally, Juanito died on June 18, 2024.

A milestone within the European conservation program for this species

This great milestone has been the result of copulations between Reo and Ora, the pair of adult Komodo dragons that live in the park, and of the long work carried out by the Herpetology and Veterinary team during the previous years. The little dragons were the survivors of a clutch of twelve eggs that, after being recovered from the female's facility by the Herpetology team, were artificially incubated for almost nine months in order to guarantee the maximum number of births.

BIOPARC Fuengirola is one of the 30 zoos that are part of the EEP for this species, coordinated by the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Currently, BIOPARC Fuengirola houses a female and a male, Ora and Reo, and their offspring Fénix, Embum, Drakaris and Saya.

Komodo dragons are in danger of extinction. Currently, there are only about 1.500 copies worldwide, of which 220 are in conservation centers belonging to the EAZA. In the wild, they can be found on the island of Flores, Komodo, Rinca, Padar, Nusa Kode and Gili Motang.

Since 2009, BIOPARC Fuengirola and the BIOPARC Foundation have been working on the European Endangered Species Program (EEP) of the Komodo dragon both 'ex situ' in its facilities and 'in-situ' on the island of Flores under the Komodo Survival Program project.