GAME OF THRONES might be nearing it’s end, but a little piece of Westeros will remain in Northeast Florida. As you count down the hours until Sunday’s highly anticipated finale, tide yourself over with this: the dragons on the beloved HBO series were partially voiced by nearby residents—specifically, rhinos and Mississippi sandhill cranes that live at White Oak Conservation Center.



Sound designer Paula Fairfield (who you might think of as the real Mother of Dragons) utilized the sounds of the animals to bring the creatures to life. She felt that using endangered species vocalizations was important, telling SYFY WIRE, “We live in a world where our animals are disappearing at a rapid rate, so it’s powerful for me to listen to their beautiful voices and use them in this space. Some of them are very startling and unusual.” In an Instagram post, White Oak offered a behind-the-scenes look of how the animals were recorded:



View this post on Instagram A post shared by White Oak Conservation (@whiteoakconservation) on May 17, 2019 at 7:35am PDT

Fairfield augmented the sounds of real animals with sounds from objects—including some 40 pounds of dry animal bones fashioned into a wind chime—as well as human voices.

Cover photo source: White Oak Conservation