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Komodo dragon vs tiger

Komodo dragon vs tiger
Evenly matched on the numbers
Measured comparison — not a prediction

The largest living lizard, which kills large prey with venom and shock rather than jaw power. The largest living cat, with Amur and Bengal tigers the heaviest subspecies. The measurements below split evenly, which is rarer than it sounds.

The measurements

Komodo dragon tiger
Mass 40–166 kg 100–310 kg
Length 2–3.13 m 1.7–2.3 m
Height — 0.8–1.1 m
Top speed — 50–65 km/h
Bite force 39 psi 1,050 psi
Lifespan 25–35 yr 8–26 yr

Where each one leads

  • Mass: tiger is 3.1× heavier.
  • Length: Komodo dragon is 1.3× longer.
  • Bite force: tiger is 27× a stronger bite.
  • Lifespan: Komodo dragon is 2.7× a longer life.

What this does and does not tell you

These are measured averages with real ranges behind them, and every figure links to its own page. What they cannot do is settle an encounter. Outcomes between animals turn on circumstance — who initiates, whether either is hungry, defending young, injured or cornered, and what the terrain favours. Size and bite force are not decisive on their own, and most of these pairs never meet in the wild in any case, because their ranges do not overlap.

Every figure here is an average with a substantial spread. Individual animals vary enormously — a large individual of the smaller species routinely exceeds a small individual of the larger one.

Common questions

Is a Komodo dragon bigger than a tiger?
tiger is heavier — 100–310 kg against 40–166 kg.
Who would win, a Komodo dragon or a tiger?
That is not something measurements can settle. The comparison above shows which animal leads on each measure, but an actual encounter depends on circumstance, motivation, health and terrain — and most pairs like this never meet in the wild.

Related pages

Sources

  1. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Smithsonian Institution
  2. Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)

How these figures are compiled and checked