Komodo National Park, Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia

© Thrithot/Adobe Stoc

Here there be dragons

Welcome to Komodo National Park, founded in 1980 to protect the Komodo dragon — a monitor lizard that evolved in this insular environment to be much larger-scale than its fellows. Found only on the islands we see here — Komodo and Padar — and a handful of others nearby, it's the biggest lizard walking the Earth today. Not only walking but sprinting. Since adult Komodo dragons often prey on swift Timor deer, you'll sometimes see a dragon in a dead sprint after its would-be dinner, reaching up to 13 miles (21 kilometres) an hour.