Scientific Celebration of 18 Years Research on Komodo dragons

Yayasan Komodo Survival Program (KSP) held Komodo Day on 3 December, 2019, in collaboration with Indonesian Institute of Sciences’ International Symposium on Indonesian Fauna (ISIF) at the Swiss-Belhotel Bogor, West Java. This event is a part of ISIF which took place for three days and invited international and Indonesian fauna scientists. In Komodo Day, KSP also invited all partners and stakeholders who helped or collaborated with us in conducting Komodo research in the past 18 years.

Komodo Day was consisted of two main events; scientific presentation and discussions on effort and collaboration opportunities in Komodo dragon’s preservation. There were 6 keynote speakers who gave speech on discovery, distribution, genetics, and Komodo conservation for almost two decades. Then continued by other 11 scientists’ presentation on prey, habitat, population, and human or community dimension in mitigating human-Komodo conflict. For more complete information, all abstracts can be read in the program book below:

After presentation finished, the event continued by discussion of experts about conservation effort and collaboration opportunities in the future to respond current Komodo’s conservation challenges. The experts not only discussed for wild population in protected areas (Komodo National Park and Wae Wuul Reserve), but also other areas (North Flores and zoos). Government and zoos representatives joined the discussion, also provided opinion on ex-situ population handling and breeding, collaboration with local universities, also how to ensure that conservation, tourism, and economy activities will harmoniously exist in the future.