People found fossilized dinosaur skeletons exposed by erosion.

They assumed they'd found a creature that still existed, and they'd merely found the most amazing skeletons proving it.

Dragons are dinosaurs. People clearly understood what that skeleton would possibly look like in reality. They just didn't realize that those dragons were no longer around.

I saw a piece about the story of Chimeras and how they were possibly stories carried by traders from inside the arid regions of southern Asia, where skeletons of ....oh which one was it... stegosaurus? can be found exposed. Same thing. People assumed that these creatures existed because, they did. They just didn't exist recently.

The powers of observation of humans wasn't any less. They simply didn't know the Earth was 4.5 billion years old.

edit to add: I think that article was an article in Skeptic magazine in 2010.

They could have been a few flying dinosaurs that survived (ie Loch Ness, Congo, elsewhere) but many attribute the dragon in the "St George and the dragon" medieval artwork as actually a Nile Crocodile (embellished of course).

I love dragons as much as the next guy, however my mind does not allow them to exist in this universe.

Limbs: Dragons generally have 6 limbs. Two arms, two wings, two legs. Of course there are variations on that template, but lets focus on that first. Now, name a mammal that has 6 limbs. Alright, now name a reptile that has 6 limbs. It's a tough one, I know. Probably because there are no mammals or reptiles with 6 limbs. Of course now I'm making the assumption that dragons were mammals or reptiles, when they could have been their own species. Or even insects. The only way they could have fit in, would be if they somehow branched off when the first creatures reached land. Because after that point, things started going all quadruped n stuff. Which means they would have had 6-limbed ancestors. Most certainly we would have a fossil of some sort of 6-limbed creature that is not an insect? I don't know much about evolution, so correct me if I'm wrong on any of this.

Wings: You would need some massive wings to carry something that has 6 limbs and a belly full of fire-fuel. And the wings would need to be even BIGGER to carry the wings weight...which brings a vicious cycle. Much like the spaceship effect. We would need a ton of fuel to travel long distances through space, and then we would need fuel to carry the fuel, and so on. It just goes on until its completely unpractical.

Fire breath: Alright even though this is the most far-fetched feature of a dragon, it's oddly enough the most feasible. Separate tube in throat to carry fuel > some sort of spark maker (teeth on tongue against teeth? idk).



I'd say dragons were just pterasaurs. People sea pterasaurs in modern times, maybe they did in medieval times too.


If dragons did exist, they would have to have been small. If they were big, they would had to have been scrawny.
I can't see the 'typical' dragon working out.