It Turns Out, Dragons Are Real And They Live In South Africa

It’s not every day you find out a mythical creature is real and living on the same planet as you. Fans of shows like Game of Thrones, or movies like The Hobbit may have wanted to see a dragon at one point, or wished they were real. Well, I hope you’re sitting down because we’re about to blow your mind with these miniature dragons.

Their bodies are covered with sharp, bony spikes, to deter jackals and birds of prey—and well-intentioned researchers who study the lizards as well. "They've drawn blood on me many, many, many times," says Shivan Parusnath, of the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg. Like the fictional Smaug, sungazers spend much of their time underground, as far as half a metre below the surface in South Africa's Free State and Mpumalanga provinces. Also like the Tolkienian dragon, they're very picky about where they make their lair, requiring a very particular combination of climate conditions, soil type and prey species.