Hudo, the Cincinnati Zoo’s beloved Komodo dragon, died over the weekend at the ago of twenty. Even until the end, the Zoo says “Hudo remained beautifully colored and careful monitoring of his diet kept him lean and youthful looking.”
His temperament was akin to that of a Golden Retriever, not the fearsome beasts of legend, the Zoo says in a blog about Hudo’s death. His keepers referred to him as a “good boy.”
The Cincinnati Zoo became Hudo’s home in 2009. He was hatched at the Denver Zoo and moved to the Indianapolis Zoo before coming to Cincinnati.
His grandfather, Naga, was given to former President George H.W. Bush by President Suharto of Indonesia, where Komodo dragons are considered a national treasure.
In 2020 Hudo’s keepers noticed his vision was worsening and worked with the vet staff to have double cataract surgery, a first in the world for a Komodo dragon.
The Cincinnati Zoo staff has learned a lot from Hudo and included him in a scientific database, reported in this WVXU story.
While he won’t replace Hudo, there is a new Komodo dragon at the zoo. Frunobulax weighs just over a pound but will likely grow to 100 pounds or more.
