Using How to Train Your Dragon to teach about endangered species, the scientific method, and popularization of science

Aug 23, 2026

Uploaded by Callum

The paper examines how the film How to Train Your Dragon can support science education by connecting narrative elements to conservation biology, the scientific method, and science communication. Through the Night Fury/Toothless and related comparisons to real endangered axolotls, the text explains extinction risk, threats such as invasive species and habitat degradation, and the value of public-facing conservation campaigns. It then maps the movie’s plot to observation–hypothesis–experiment–conclusion steps and highlights popularization of science as a way to persuade communities and reduce misconceptions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time8 min

AccessFree to download

Protecting endangered species

The scientific method

The importance of popularizing science

Journal of Geek Studies [jgeekstudies.org](jgeekstudies.org) Using How to Train Your Dragon to teach about endangered species, the scientific method, and popularization of science Matheus C. Drago Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. [E-mail: matheusdrago96@gmail.com](E-mail: matheusdrago96@gmail.com) How to Train Your Dragon (2010) is oneof DreamWorks’ most famous movies and is set on the fictional Berk, a place where fighting between Vikings and dragons is pretty common. The movie focuses on Hiccup, a teenage Viking, who despite being rather clumsy, is willing to defeat his first dragon. He ends up eventually capturing one of the most powerful dragons known: a Night Fury (nicknamed Toothless during the plot) . Movie poster. Image extracted from IMDb. After capturing the dragon – and not feeling right about it – Hiccup chooses to free it and a friendship between the two is formed. Hiccup then finds himself in a dilemma: to face a dragon and make the other Vikings (including his father, Stoick the Vast, leader of the village of Berk) proud or to convince them that dragons are not as dangerous as they think and that it is possible to live in harmony with them. Well, as it is not my intention to give bigger spoilers, I think it is better to go for what really matters: how the movie can help people understand the need to protect endangered species, how the scientific method works, and the importance of popularization of science. Each of these topics will now be discussed in more detail. PROTECTING ENDANGERED SPECIES If dragons were classified according to their extinction risk (just as real species are classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN, for example), Night Furies would surely be classified as ‘Threatened’. Widely hunted in the past, Toothless is one of the few remaining individuals of the species. Eventhough behavioral comparisons between Toothless and cats are common on the Internet, a large part of the franchise’s fan- 33 Drago, M.C. base believes Night Furies were inspired, at least partially, by axolotls, Ambystoma mexicanum. Those are salamanders (amphibians) known for not undergoing full metamorphosis process and for their capacity for regeneration. Axolotls are classified as‘Critically Endangered’(the highest level of threat) by IUCN mainly because they suffer from invasive species and diseases and their habitat is seriously degraded by residential development, tourism activities and pollution (IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, 2020) . An axolotl. Image extracted from Wikimedia Commons (Faldrian, 2013) . Some of the main similarities between Toothless and axolotls are the physical form, and the presence of certain structures close to the head (equivalent to the axolotl gills) . The coloring, in turn, also deserves to be highlighted. While Toothless has an entirely black body, a female of the species introduced in the third movie of the franchise is completely white. The colors of axolotls, however, are quite variable, although black and white are common. Unfortunately, Toothless does not have the regenerating power of axolotls (but, to compensate, it does have scales and can fly) . Perhaps we can all learn from Hiccup about protecting endangered species, as one of the things he is concerned throughout the movie is protecting his new friend from the other Vikings. It is also worth mentioning that DreamWorks has already participated in conservation campaigns of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) and WildAid using some of its characters (for an example, see WildAid, 2019) . Using characters that are popular among the public not only increases the visibility of those campaigns, but also makes the target species better known to the society. So why not use Toothless to draw attention to the conservation of axolotls? Even if Toothless was not really inspired by axolotls, since the public already made the as

FAQs

How does the paper argue that the movie supports endangered-species protection?

It links the Night Fury/Toothless to real threatened status and discusses axolotls, including reasons for their critical endangerment and how public associations can increase attention to conservation.

Which steps of the scientific method does the paper map onto the movie?

It matches observation, forming questions, proposing hypotheses, testing via experiments, and drawing conclusions about whether ideas are objectively true or not.

Why does the paper emphasize popularization of science in the context of the film?

It explains popularization as bringing scientific knowledge to the public, making persuasion easier in communities while also addressing challenges in convincing authority figures.

Aug 23, 2026

Uploaded by Callum