Wyvern A wyvern is a wolfish - lion with bat wings and a scorpion tail . They can be found living in the harsh cliff - terraces of the Barrens , Stonetalon Mountains , and the Thousand Needles . They hold great enmity for harpies , as the vile creatures like to capture young wyverns for food and to subvert and train as guardians . Like hippogryph s and gryphon s , wyverns are intelligent creatures — as smart as any humanoid . Their fierce predator instincts , as well as their harsh environments , lend little trust for humanoids , however . Despite this , wyverns are new allies to the Horde . The greenskinned orc s proved themselves to wyverns in battle against harpies attempting to kill a Stonetalon Mountains flight . Since then , the two species have a growing respect for one another . Wyverns share respect for the tauren just as they do the orcs , though the former are simply too large to join forces with a flying wyvern . A wyvern may choose an orc with a willingness to take to the air , and the two establish a formidable aerial scouting and combat team . Such orcs are known as wind riders . Wyverns are encountered alone as often as they are found in an orc rider ’ s presence . Wyverns share a common ancestry with dragon s and gryphon s . Wyverns revel in flight , dutifully carrying Horde riders ( also called " Wind Riders " ) along various routes surrounding Thunder Bluff and Orgrimmar for a small fee . Orcs raise wyverns to serve as steeds both in and out of combat . Not all wyverns are friendly to the horde ; some are even enraged . They do not give up their eggs willingly , forcing the Horde to take the eggs to raise the newborn wyvern . Professional wyvern trainers wear thick , elbow - length leather gloves to protect themselves from baby wyverns ' deadly stings . They speak Orcish and Taur - ahe , and are capable of learning Common and other languages . Flying mounts . In " The Burning Crusade " , Armored Wyvern s are the epic flying mount of the Horde in Outland , see below . However , in some cases they were apparently trained to accept any rider , as seen by the bombing roosts around Halaa . Myth . Despite their mammalian qualities in Warcraft , wyverns are actually a type of reptilian dragon found in medieval heraldry . Wyverns were easily determined from other dragons by their four , rather than six , limbs , and their clawed tail . Wyverns were bipedal — their wings grew out from their forelimbs . Of course , the Wyverns could breathe flame ( typically from the nostrils , whereas dragons were typically able to exhale flame through the mouth ) . The Wyvern had an even worse reputation than the dragon — while dragons could be benign or wise , Wyverns didn ' t seem to be sapient . In heraldry , the wyvern was never used for a crest or coat of arms among the greater powers of Europe ( though the beast was known as far west as England ) . The wyverns of the Warcraft universe share more features with Manticores , than Wyverns . The Manticore was a mythological beast , originally of Persian orgin , that have the body of a lion , was winged , and possessed a reptilian or scorpion ' s tail , and a human face with a shark - like maw , having three sets of sharp teeth . The more leonine wyverns of " Warcraft " were intended to fit the Horde ' s newer , wiser image , and contrast the evil - looking dragons they stole from Alexstrasza . Like their Earth counterparts , their wings are attached to their forelimbs . The scorpion - like tail is Blizzard ' s own addition ; mythologically , it was possessed by the Manticore , not the Wyvern . Manual of Monsters . In the Appendix Three of " Manual of Monsters " there are different types of wyverns described : wyvern ( dragonkin ) and sand wyvern . However the validity of the source is disputed . Companion . In " World of Warcraft " , a Wind Rider Cub companion was recently introduced for the Horde .