File photo shows a Komodo dragon on an island, part of the protected area of Komodo National Park in Indonesia’s Nusa Tenggara Timur province.

AFP/Jakarta

A Komodo dragon in Indonesia has attacked two employees in one of the giant lizards’ protected island habitats, leaving its victims hospitalised with serious injuries, an official said yesterday.

One victim, a 50-year-old park ranger, was sitting at his desk at the Rinca island front office, where tourists usually check in, when the two-metre-long monitor snuck into his room Tuesday afternoon.

“The man panicked when he saw the Komodo and tried to escape by jumping on a chair, but the Komodo quickly grabbed and bit one of his legs,” Komodo National Park official Heru Rudiharto said.

Rudiharto said the ranger was the victim of a similar Komodo attack in 2009 and was still traumatised.

Another employee, aged 35, heard the ranger scream and quickly ran to his aid, but the lizard also attacked him, taking a bite at his leg.

Both are in good condition after being given stitches at a health clinic, Rudiharto said, but they are being monitored in hospital to ensure an infection does not develop.

Until recently, Komodos were believed to hunt with a “bite and wait” strategy using toxic bacteria in their saliva to weaken or kill their prey, before descending in numbers to feast.

But recent research found that the dragons’ jaws are armed with highly sophisticated poison glands that can cause paralysis, spasms and shock through haemorrhaging.

They are native to several Indonesian islands and are considered a vulnerable species, with only a few thousand left in the world. Their normal diet consists of large mammals, reptiles and birds.