Dragons

This is where i explain DRAGONS

Flight: The wings aid in flight, but they do not provide enough surface area for the dragon to be able to fly. Even with the heavily muscled chest which aids in flapping, large dragons would not be able to fly if it were not for two modifications in their design.


Dragons are lighter than they appear; this is due to their skeletal structure. Like birds, the bones of a dragon are hollow and reinforced by internal supports; this causes it to be lightweight but strong. Also to lessen the dragon’s weight is a mixture of hydrogen and methane, which will be
called GAS, from here on.


Gas is produced during digestion by special gut bacteria (all animals have gut bacteria). The gas is stored in a sack and within the hollow structure of the bones.


By controlling the amount of air in the gas sack, they are able to control their height (like how fish use a swim bladder to control buoyancy, move up an down).



Fire: The gas used in flight is also used in fire breathing.
A tube leading from the hydrogen sack connects it to the dragon’s mouth. The mouth is heavily armored and has a false pallet to prevent the backflow of gas.
(Like crocodiles, to prevent water from going down their throats when they open
their mouths).


Unlike other carnivores, dragons have molars. They chew on flint, which becomes stuck in the molars.


To actually breathe fire, the dragon constricts its abdomen, which causes a stream of gas to flow through the tube and out the dragon’s mouth. With this flow of gas, some of the grounded flint in the molars become airborne and create sparks. This mixture of hydrogen, methane and sparks, when combined with oxygen from the air creates fire.

So, the more fire the dragon creates, the less he is able to fly. (Until its eats again)


Claws, Horns, Tails, and Teeth, Wings and Skin: These are all used by the dragon, claws are used in scratching, horns can be used in attacking or as a shield, teeth by them selves are good weapons but by adding venom they become more lethal.


The wings contain the most delicate bones in a dragon, but the thumb, if present, can be used as a grasping tool. In some species it is modified into a dagger-like projection and used to stab. The tail varies between the species, in some dragons the mere size of the tail is enough to
kill a man with one swing, but some tails have spikes, clubbed ends (for stunning) and other modifications.


The dragon skin is covered in scales with provide armor.
This is hard to penetrate, but the belly plates can be raised to expose weak areas in the dragon, especially in the chest region (heart). Some scales are modified to look like feathers and even hair.


Acid: one of my favorites, the dragon spits stomach acid on its victim. This is coated with mucus to protect the dragon’s throat and mouth.
Acidic Blood: the hydrogen used in fire making and flight cause the dragon’s blood to become acidic.


Venom: This is actually not venom, but saliva filled with bacteria (Komodo dragons, from the Komodo Islands are able to do this, {for real}). But some dragons are able to create poison/venom, which is delivered in various ways, such as, biting and special spikes on the body.


Deadly Dragon’s Breath: Some dragons are able to exhale poisonous gasses created during respiration and can even be fatal to the dragon if inhaled.


Sound: Dragons are able to create high pitched sounds which hurts the attackers ears and calls on help form other dragons.


Wind: Winged dragons are able to use the wind created by flapping the wings as a tool. This is most effective with large dragons. It is most useful in dusty and sandy areas even by small dragons, and causes a cloud of dust that serves as a cover for the dragon’s retreat of ambush.


Water: Used by aquatic dragons. By filling their stomachs with water and then constricting their abdomens, they are able to spray a jet of water with great force and some distance.


Ice: This I think is only possible in magic dragons. The dragon is able to compress nitrogen (either gathered by special cells in its blood during breathing or created during digestion). When exhaled, it expands and draws heat from it surroundings causing quick cooling and even freezing.

bumbocl....*sighs*....i swear to god if it weren't for physics and laws of reality, I would start belive this, bcuz it is damn convincing. Very nice descriptions.

Ever consider writing a novel like christopher paolini did with his Eragon series. You seem to have a wealth of knowledge so it would be interesting.

yeah iv thought of novels before, but it seems that it would take a long time to write.


Types of dragons:

This is just a general description of the different dragon types, to go into the different species would be a long tedious process. Most common among them are horns, but not all have horns.


Western Dragons

Generally big, four legged and winged. Have a wide range but found mostly in Europe. They are attracted to shiny objects and so fly of with women in an effort to get the shiny jewelry to add to their hoard, which leads to stories of dragons guarding treasure.

There are also dragons that walk on two legs and use the front legs as arms.
Winged and wingless forms for all types exist in all sizes.

Dragonets: Small dragons, about the size of a man and smaller.

Drakes: Dragons with only two legs and no wings.


Greek Dragons: Dragons with two or more heads, Hydras.


African Dragons: Two legged, front limbs are wings. The Wyverns.
Have been found in English heraldry, which suggest that they
have gone as far as Europe.



Eastern Dragons

Wyrms: Limbless dragons that resemble snakes. Called Nagas in India and have a giant frill on the neck.


Asian Dragons: Three Orders; Chinese, Korean, Japanese.


All have long serpentine bodies, thought some have wings and can fly and are rare, most are wingless and flightless, or have really small wings. Flightless species are good jumpers and are able to glide with the wings or twist their bodies and glide (like flying snakes {for real}).


In some, the wings are modified into legs, so these dragons have six legs, and as a result are longer.


They are lighter than most dragons and are made even lighter by the gas, which cause them to walk quietly along the forest floor. Also, being forest dwellers, flight would not be very useful do to the closeness of the plants in the bamboo forests, a twisting body would be more beneficial.
They are also river dwellers but are able to breath fire and are also attracted to shiny object and are often seen with round polished orbs/stones.

Manes and beards can be present, tails have bushy ends, all are horned, but have only two, horns are dear-like, but are different in the orders:

Chinese: short horns, two whiskers that hang down. Main difference is five toes. Spines along the back are short.


Korean: only thing I could find is that they have four toes.
But they appear to have long horns and whiskers that hang down.


Japanese: Three toes, long horns, whiskers flow back with the horns. Spines long the back are high/long.


Australian Dragons: There are a few:
Small wings and breath blue fire. Might be due to the high concentration of hydrogen in the gas. Can’t fly.
Most are serpentine water dwellers.


New World Dragons

American Dragon: Serpentine bodies, only two wings are
present, Quetzalcoatl or Amphipteres (European name for them)




Aquatic Dragons

Generally long bodied, wings are modified to aid in swimming or non-existent. All have to surface for air.
Webbing is present and usually very flamboyant. Live in oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, ponds and other bodies of water large enough.
Even puddles created by rain, water is only essential for their locomotion and they are able to exist on land, and some even move about, and so, small ones can inhabit puddles.
Do not breathe fire, but use the gas sack (as fish would use their swim
bladders) to control buoyancy. Built up gas is released as bubbles through the mouth or nose, which some seem to find fun in.

Some resemble non-aquatic dragons, and are even able to fly, but are differentiated from non-aquatic dragons by living most of their life in the water. There are dragons are able to swim but are not true aquatics.

Marine Dragons: Aquatic dragons that live in the ocean. Are able to enter rivers.
Unable to bask efficiently in the ocean, most of their heat is produced through body movements (swimming).



Other

Winged and wingless serpentine dragons with front limbs.











Pseudo Dragons

Basilisk, Cockatrix, Manticore, Typhon


more soon.

Niqui, I'll need you provide for me a summarized version of this. I had to stop reeading after he went on to the Korean dragons. I'm agreement with your view on the whole thing. The article was nicely delivered. You and I, will need to disscect the article and get further details from Geo (where necessary).

you reached as far as korean dragons and stopped? it was almost done there

I read through the whole thing (a few minutes ago), but its just a bit too much to meditate on at the moment. lol

I'll admit that you've got me stumped on this one.

what does niqui mean about the laws of physics?

it is actually biologically possible for them to live. just like a cat with horns. even though they dont exist, it still is a biological possibility.
actually if you know anything about true horns, the horns of young animals start off as a bulb, and can be grafted ontu another animals skull sucessfully

and the unicorn thing might have something behind it, cause unicorns originated in india and bone horn grafting was done in india (Collier's Encyclopidea; mamals {ch 15, pg 307})

Isn't grafting rather expensive, relatively? There would have to be a very delicate healing process involved.

well back in the days thoes indian guys could do it

wow didnt know it was so much to dragon,i always jus say them a jus myths that kid love,but dragon not calling you a kid are ntn but you really done create with this explaination, but may i ask how long they live?

the life spans differ, some live really long while others have really short life spans

I believe Jr, was asking for actual figures (an estimation would be appropriate).

yes dragon ,that answer is vague,i think i need another definition

k then um. asain dragons can be as long as 45 feet and even longer

dragonettes are about 1.5 meters high and shorter
big western dragons can be 45 feet long but lengths of 150 feet are not uncommon.

im working on a composition with all the different types of dragons and i put humans in it to show size.


ill fix the dragon article so its easyer to read. right now, everything looks all thrown together

GEOvanne, he was asking about thier actual age (life-span).

wow ,hold up dragon, i wanted to know how long they live or as snyper said life span,ok not how big they grow, are how much they eat ok

oh, they can live anywhere from less than a year to a few hundred years


being reptiles, they dont have to eat as much (but they could if they wanted),

for large dragons, such as in england, they rgularly ate cows and sheep (which caused the people to become enraged) horses, pigs and other lifestock are also on the menu.
large enough dragons could even eat the horse with the knight on it in battle.

a 45 feetlong dragon could survive on one sheep per day, and even less.

smaller dragons hunted rabbits, squirls, fish, birds and other forest life.


asain dragons would have lived on deer, antelopes and even tigers.


dragons in africa would probably not go after an elephant unless it was big enough to take it down


some dragons are omnivours and so could live on plants if meat wasnt readily available.


thye basically eat what they can overpower, along wiht taste prefferences.

GEOvanne wrote:they can live anywhere from less than a year...

This minimum value is too small to even consider a beast live that even 'worth' living in the first place. What causes them to 'die' at such a young age?

they dont die at a young age, they just age quickly. Triops only live for about three months, and some mice only live for a year
when dragonflies leave the water, they only last a day.

so less than a year isnt a small value. mabey we ae the one that live too long

the dragon thing has been updated and fiwed so its easyer to read

I've noted the changes, and can see the improvements.

Wow...Geo got a dragon section.....heaven help us all.

We let him go absoloutely wild. He has made some very informative posts, and probably converted a few skeptics too.

Wow, I never thought that would happen. Wait, u don't mean people are becoming convinced that dragons exist?.....surely not. If so then i'll play the skeptic and y'all convice me

I'm not convinced (not even remotely), but we allow him the oportunity to try convincing us. This thread really doesn't even fall under the paranormal, but its just for 'kicks'.