and the animal is set free. It takes off like a shot into the woods, flinging dirt and rocks with madly scraping claws—the no-nonsense retreat of a real-life dragon.

humans burn its habitat to clear land and poach animals on which it preys. Even on land protected as Komodo National Park, officials reported just 3,013 Komodo dragons in 2016, down from 3,222 in ...

Giant pterosaurs may be the closest real animals to the dragons of Westeros. So if they could fly, surely Dany's dragons could too, right? Well… not exactly. Let's consider the mechanics of flight.

The lizards’ infectious saliva means that they can kill much larger animals with a single bite ... and may refer to Chinese sailors’ tales of real dragons on a few small Indonesian islands.