Scintific Dragons

Okay the reasons I created this board is to list the scientificly possible aspects of european dragons.


1. Fire breathing.
They could have had special organs in there body that produced chemicals that when mixed together combust into fire, these organs would most likely be a conscious/unconsciou effort, They would unconsciously produce the chemical, they would consciously open the organs for the chemicals to mix and at the same time breath out to give the flame and/or chemicals momentum.

2. Wings.
They could have had bat like wings that gave them the abilitie to fly.

3. Origins and disaperance
I would suspect that they could have been a dinosaur of some sort that survived the mass extinction, but never arose to a large populace, the small amount left could have been killed by groups of knights, or they might have simply killed one another.

It is possible that the dragon sightings may have been of pterdactyl's that survivrd the great extinction.


I'd like to hear everyones thoughts on this, be they positive or negative.

I highly doubt that a dragon breaths fire. All the chemical mixes (do you know which ones?) sound intriguing but they must first have extremely fire resistant organs. And what do dragons eat? all these questions must be answered to even begin to challenege the existance of dragons

another thing... If they existed during the prehistoric times, with all those extra qualities wouldnt they be well known, at the top of the food chain?

Originally posted by XX_Mouse_XX
another thing... If they existed during the prehistoric times, with all those extra qualities wouldnt they be well known, at the top of the food chain?

True, it doesnt quite make sense. A flying dragon would need HUGE quantities of food...

It could have been pteradactyls, but I think there would be more references to them. Even a small populace would leave a trace.

If the chemcials are shot out of the mouth at an angle so as to combine at say, 5feet from the tip of the dragons mouth, it would not have to worry so much about the heat, so i think in theory it is possible to create a fire breathing creature.

Now what advantage there is to being able to breath fire I don't know. Realistically I can only see it being used as a defense mechanism. If the dragons are so huge, so strong, with such thick skin as to seem impenetrable and their claws are so large, they don't have any need to breath fire to catch prey.

IF they did exist, the chemicals stored in their bodies MIGHT help to explain why there are no fossils of them. As they died, their flesh would rot away, then chemicals might leak together, and you have an instant dragon bbq, buring up any remaining flesh and either incinerating bone, or making it so brittle from the heat that it turns to dust very quickly and easily.

hmmm, I like this idea, there are plenty of chemicals that spontaniously ignite with air, for example phosphorous, and it can be held in any water based body.

Wings, they would need to be massive and mabey even hollow, but possible

Hmmm, I have no clue what type of evolutionary enviroment would naturaly select such a beast, but mabey.

what seems more likely is a dragon type animal but smaller, much smaller, like the size of a dog, or a bird. in the case that they are this small, evolution could lead to wings for saftey, and a flame organ for hunting, but what type of hunting would an animal need fire, other than possibly teritorial. If this dragon was a teritorial animal, fire would be a positive trait that would be continued.

Yes the posibility of a fire breathing dragon is possible, but on the huge scale that is typicly imagined, I doubt it.


[edit on 7/11/2004 by dusty1031]

yes, reading the posts that were written while I was writing mine, it is explanational that dragons were small or med sized creatures

Originally posted by dusty1031
what seems more likely is a dragon type animal but smaller, much smaller, like the size of a dog, or a bird.

Like a fire breathing greasel from the game Deus Ex



[edit on 7-11-2004 by nibiru]

never played it, but the picture seems fairly accurate to what was trying to be conveyed, Great Job and Thanks

This theory has everything, both science and religion. Too bad a certain patron saint had to save a fair princess, and in the process kill the last dragon.

Are there any theories on what happened to the "dragons", that is if they existed?

I t could be like Reign of Fire where the dragons sleep underground where it is warmest. Hey what I just said makes perfect sense!

Mmmm, I highly doubt what we think of as dragons, especially such as in "Reign of Fire" Ever existed... For flying creatures especially, there have been creatures of that kind of size before, such as pteradactyls, the largest species of which (Quetzalcoatus) had a wing span of over 12 meters. However, to be able to fly they had an amazingly thin and light bone structure, such as birds today, so there can't have been anything too huge and powerful otherwise it would have been too heavy to take off. Gliding like a number of mammals is possible, though it's unlikely that it would have seperate wings as well as four legs as often depicted, there are no creatures larger than insects or spiders with more than 4 legs... would have to be a completely different line of animals, none of which have shown up in the fossil record. Gliding with flaps of skin between extended fingers could be possible though unlikely wih a creature so large. The breathing fire I suppose is also possible, could be a slight exageration of what the bombadier beetle does.... mixes hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide in an extremelly exothermic reaction, squirting out irritating and odious gases which are around 212 degrees F... Quite a defense for such a small animal!

yeah, as for the stories, IF there were dragons seen by people that died out before recordrd history (b/c if they didn't why weren't they recordrd till the middle ages in stories?) then it would be quite easy over the span of many years for their reputation to become huge, making them huge beasts (what creature that can breath fire can't be scarry and threatening?) and what better way to improve your rep but by saying 'I killed this gigantic beast which you all have never seen but fear it so!'

si, hmmmm yes, flying, I implied earlier the possibility of having hollow bones like birds do.

I don't think theyare living underground, the globe has only been getting warmer over the centuries, so if they were on the surface in the cold, they would be now too when it is warmer.

what if in reality there has really just been highly advanced society which actually had the ability to fly using an aircract with some sort of engine based off the use of fire this would explain why there are really no remains of dragons found

Dragon myths are not as concrete as they are now. Early dragons were just large snakes; in fact, IIRC the name dragon is derived from the Latin for serpent. Almost every culture has legends of large reptilian creatures, but these legends are as varied as the cultures themselves. The idea of a flying, fire-breathing bipedal dragon are relatively new in the grand scheme of things.

In all likelihood, the idea of the dragon is just a myth based off of our natural fear of reptiles and our very active imaginations.

There were real dragons that lived along side humans. They didnt breath fire or fly but they would kill you all the same.

Megalania, giant ripper lizard (Megalania prisca)


Size 30-40 ft long
Weight 1000+ lbs

It was the largest lizards to have ever lived. With serrated teeth and large claws it could easily have caught prey of twice its own weight, and could have tackled animals of up to 10 times its own weight.

This thing lived along side humans,Thats a dragon if ever there was one.

www.bbc.co.uk...

As I said, humans have a natural revulsion towards reptile, especially snakes. I've heard it theorized it is because snakes were our main predators when we still lived in the trees.

Of course, that's one creature, and I doubt it solely is responsible for the plethora of Dragon myths around the world. We just hate reptilles.

I think you are right many animals could have added to the stories very large snakes even large Crocodiles. There was even a story of a Crocodile that was brought to europe and got loose and went on a rampage. Im sure that was a dragon to those people at the time.

But if there was ever a animal that lived with humans that deserved the name dragon it was Megalania or perhaps his smaller cousin the Komodo dragon.

Originally posted by Slashpepper
However, to be able to fly they had an amazingly thin and light bone structure, such as birds today, so there can't have been anything too huge and powerful otherwise it would have been too heavy to take off.

Gliding with flaps of skin between extended fingers could be possible though unlikely wih a creature so large.

During my senior year in high school I had a fascination with flight. I found a picture of a dragon and a small figurine that mirrored it in every way that was important. I calculated its mass, wing span, the surface area of its wings, running speed based on muscle and skeletal structure, drag due to surface area, and lift generated by running with wings outstreached. After about three months of research, checking, double checking and recalculating I determined that the particular specie I was studying could, in fact, glide had it existed. The lift it could generate was enough for it to carry approximately 50 lbs before it would not generate sufficient lift to become airborn.

I could not find sufficient information on the thrust generated by flapping wings to add that into the calculation but even without thrust it could glide. This leads me to believe that it could potentially have flown. I have had my work checked by physics proffessors and they could not find a single error or inaccurate assumption that would be significant disprove my calculations.

If anyone can find any information on the mathematics behind the thrust of flapping wings (of animals) I would be very happy.