Exotic dragons from Asia have landed in New York City -- and it doesn't have anything to do with the Godzilla movie currently stomping through theaters everywhere.

The Bronx Zoo, operated by the Wildlife Conservation Society, has just opened the "Amazing Monitors" habitat for Komodo dragons, otherwise named Varanus komodoensis, the world's largest living lizard species.

Located in the historic Zoo Center building and representing the first time the zoo has featured Komodo dragons since the 1950s, the newly-opened habitat contains three Komodo dragons, two female and one male.

The exhibit also includes three other species of monitors, the family of lizards that includes Komodos, that hail from very different ecosystems: Mertens' water monitors, or Varanus mertensi; yellow spiny-tailed monitors, or Varanus acanthurus, which live in rocky terrain; and blue tree monitors, Varanus macraei. The exhibits housing each of the different types of lizards replicate the habitats in which they are respectively found.

According to data from the WCS, fully grown adult male Komodos can reach up to nine feet from nose to tail and weigh around 360 pounds.

However, the dragons in the new exhibit each measure approximately five feet in length, indicating they are still adolescents and have yet to grow to their full size and potential.

"Komodo dragons are one of nature's most amazing creatures," Jim Breheny, WCS Executive Vice President and Director of the Bronx Zoo, said in a news release. "They are the top predator in the environment in which they live."

By introducing visitors to Komodo dragons and the challenges they face in the wild, "we hope people will take on an appreciation for this uniquely adapted species, Breheny said. " Perhaps we will even inspire the career of the next great herpetologist or conservation scientist to work in Indonesia to help save the remaining wild dragons."

The diet of the Komodo dragons -- which are native to the eastern Indonesian islands of Komodo, Flores, Rinca, Padar, Gili Motang, and Nusa Kode -- consists mainly of large and small mammals including deer and buffalo, reptiles including smaller Komodo dragons, birds, eggs, and carrion.

Individual Komodos can consume up to 80 percent of their body weight in one feeding.

The bite of a Komodo is capable of inflicting serious wounds on their prey that often result in a quick death. As well, the saliva contains a toxic mix of bacteria and venom fractions, so even if a dragon's prey doesn't die right away after being bitten, it likely will within days, at which point the large lizard will be able to use its sense of smell to catch back up to its next meal.

It's estimated there are fewer than 2,500 Komodo dragons, which are classified as "Vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, still in the wild and perhaps as few as 350 breeding females left.