IF dragons are real, how are they able to breath fire???

reply to post by earthman4

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I know they do that. You have read about in books as that was were the myths started? But how would that occur in places where that reptile does not live? ^^

reply to post by Aeons

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I would like to think they could actualy spew flames from there maw ^^' It may be a myth, but if someone said is was breathing fire, I would assume there was an infernoa coming from its jaws.

[edit on 17-12-2008 by veryrandomannonomous]

What would be the seeming difference to the person burned? Or the people who found the person with burns? Not much.

i don't know if this has been answered already or not but i have a hunch. you know those annoying kids who can make saliva come out of the glands under there tongues well that's what dragons have and it works just like a flame thrower. the umm gasoline if you will leaves the glands under the tongue and exits the mouth but not before a piece of flint is struck creating the spark the dragon needs. i don't know if you know that like most animals dragons would have put rocks in there mouths my dogs do it i don't know why. dragons would keep treasure in caves and collect rocks. id assume the dragon would place the piece of flint some where in its mouth maybe near the teeth or if there mouths were tough enough due to being able to breath fire they could simply run there tongue across the rock making sparks igniting the gas and recreating a flame thrower action. i don't know if that answered it for you or if was already answered but there's my two cents._javascript:icon('')

Hi

This thread is a tad old, but I will reply to your hypothesis.
Gasoline is very different from saliva. If you're talking about a flammable substance, from a biological perspective I think it would have to be an alcohol or a flammable acid. An organism is much more likely to produce that as a secondary compound, especially a flammable acid, than to produce gasoline... which is a fossil fuel comprised of millions of years old decayed matter.

Some reptiles can "spit," like cobras. So I would say that a spitting mechanism could be possible. Basically it's just a powerful release of a gland.

So you're saying that a dragon would have a rough tongue, perhaps toothed, that rubs against a stone that it keeps in its mouth in order to start a spark? Well, on the bright side, some birds are known to eat rocks. This helps them digest food in their gizzards. Sauropods did this, too. Dragons would probably be large lizard-type animals closely related to both birds and reptiles.

I'm not sure about having a tongue rough enough to spark a flint, though. That's not a typical trait for reptiles to have, but other groups of animals exhibit that trait. I ask you, though, how could a spark form when there is probably moisture (saliva) in the dragon's mouth? Most organisms have some sort of saliva to begin the digestion process in the mouth.

I don't think that dragons collect treasure, exactly. Some birds, like the male bowerbird, take pretty extravagant objects to their nesting sites. I encourage you to check out this behavior of hoarding here:

YouTube Link

So, regardless, I think that ethological process of a reptile holding a stone in its mouth, not swallowing it, and using a motion with its tongue to create a spark at the same time that it excretes a flammable liquid from its mouth seems very, very complex. Reptiles are smart, but not that smart. Their brains are constructed in a very different way than ours, and the regions that control our thinking and planning and coordination are much less advanced in reptiles. I'm not saying that this is impossible. I'm just saying that I really don't think it's likely to have occurred.

Here's why:
This process would take a great deal of energy expenditure, coordination, and time. (The time to get the rock, the time to actually do these motions during a time when the organism needs to do so, etc.) There would need to be a REALLY good reason that the dragons evolved to breathe fire. I don't think it's likely because breathing fire is a really inefficient way to defend and/or kill prey. It takes the creation of a secondary flammable compound (according to your theory) and a lot of energy. Plus it's not like the prey or the threat to the dragon is just going to wait while the gland produces enough of the substance to propel a large flame and while the dragon lights a spark with its tongue, on the off chance that dragons lack saliva or are somehow able to light a spark regardless of the saliva in the mouth. The target is going to move away or become harmful. It is much more efficient to utilize strong teeth, claws, and perhaps venom, in combination with speed and strength.

I really, really just don't think so. But A+ for a creative approach!

I could be wrong about this. But from a zoological and evolutionary, ecological standpoint... it wouldn't be efficient.

Well, I did a quick scan through this thread and was surprised that none of you hit the mark about the explanation of the fire-breathing dragons of legend and lore.


They actually exist for real, and here's a url with which you can find out for yourself:

divinecosmos.com...




And there's a bunch more information about the fire-breathing "dragons", as well as other dinosaurs that have accidentally time-traveled from their realities to our present realities, fully present, physical and able to kill/eat people. And people have been able to kill/eat the dinosaurs as well.


I had fun editing this radio transcript when it came across my desk, as it was fascinating information that settled my long-held questions about the fire-breathing dragons, thunderbirds, etc.


Often the truth of reality can be stranger than fiction, but true nonetheless.


~Mozart

dragons had 2 pairs of lungs, one for breathing and another for holding carbon dioxide.(so i think thats the chemical). Dragons chewed on rocks to get magnesium. When these chemicals combine in would create a flame. The mouth of a dragon was naturally very rough keeping the dragons mouth from being scourched. I got this info from the discovery channel. They actually found a well preserved dragon fossil. It still had flesh. Google

Goodness. Please, please take what you read on the internet with a grain of salt.

Historical- I'm going to be as concise and nice about this as possible. A ropen is a cryptid, like bigfoot, like a dragon, like Nessie, most closely related to the Thunderbird. There is no evidence that ropens exist or have ever existed, although there is the hypothesis that it was a form of surviving pterodactyl and there have been a few sightings. But it's a cryptid, not a real zoological entity. In addition, that source cites that the fire is produced because the ropen can shift through time and space. I will leave this to physics experts, but I'm saying that I don't see this as being possible, and definitely not likely. It doesn't mean it can't happen. I just really, really don't think that is a good explanation. I call it a stretch. A large stretch. But if you can provide more evidence about the physics of dimensional shifts, the red glow, the existence of pterodactyls in conjunction with humans, then I'll take another look.

-zLFz- - Please provide a Google source, if there is information about this on Google. Primarily, however, lungs function synchronously. Both lungs have identical function in every organism that has lungs. Why would dragons evolve to have two differently-functioning lungs? Also, dragons would inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Lungs are not storage organs. I also don't believe that having a rough mouth would prevent damage from the flame. They would chew on rocks to get magnesium, how would the magnesium combine with the chemicals? Debris cannot enter the lung. There would have to be valves to control the expulsion of whatever chemical causes the reaction to create fire.

Like... okay. Fire is really cool. Fire-breathing reptiles would be really cool. But fire is a totally INEFFICIENT method of predation and defense. That's what I want you to prove.

Why would breathing fire be beneficial and worthwhile, with all the energy that would need to go into it, why would it be better than other options? Why would it have evolved? Why did only dragons have it?

All systems go.