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Didn't Bilbo observe a faint glow around the sleeping Smaug?
I think this gives us a clue about dragon energy sources. The glow was from burning hydrogen.
Dragon wings are too small to lift their great bulk. In order to fly, dragons must be lighter-than-air creatures. The gas that provided the flame in the early, non-flying dragons also provided the flight capabilities in the later, more evolved, Great Dragons. The slow combustion of hydrogen via a catalyst would also provide energy for metabolism.
The hydrogen is generated in one of the dragon's multiple stomachs by the action of gastric acids on certain minerals, so, apart from rare forays to obtain protiens and vitamins, dragons eat rocks.
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