A scientific analysis of Dragons and other large fantastical flying reptiles

[Redfrogcrab]

I would wager that those creatures would have been bigger in earlier time periods on earth, and if we’re talking fantasy beasts then all bets are off.

A. Do you mean extremophiles? No fossil evidence supports large extremophiles*
B. *sigh* we're talking here as if they are real, flesh-and-blood animals and comming up with theories on how they could function and how they could exist

*excluding deep-sea animals, as, for some ungodly reason, organisms get really big and freaky the deeper you go, kinda, said ungodly reason is because larger organisms have a more efficient metabolism

 

[Graham J. Darling]

The most plausible draconic firebreathing I've ever seen was in the movie/miniseries "Stanley's Dragon" (UK 1994): a spray of oil (like neatsfoot oil, which is an animal product that's liquid at room temperature) that's lit by an unspecified organ in the mouth (involving friction at the teeth? and/or rocks from the gizzard?), and projects like a flamethrower. Other flammables suggested here wouldn't be very practical: a high-pressure hydrogen flame goes forward a few inches then straight up, and methane etc gases aren't much better.
As for flying, the real-life Flying Lizard Draco volans glides from tree to tree on outspread ribs. But Quetzalcoatlus could walk around and maybe even run with its folded wings as forelimbs--the idea for dragons comes from dinosaurs anyway, the Chinese word for dinosaur is "terrible dragon", and the Chinese have been selling dinosaur bones as "dragon bones" for time out of mind (that's Eastern Dragons--the original western Greek drakon was just a big snake--though the Serpent in Eden had limbs before it was cursed "on thy belly thou shalt crawl").

 

[pmmg]

I suspect that if the truth could be known, the origin of dragons might include other factors than just snakes and dinosaurs. I saw a documentary once that suggested the idea of wings could have come from travelers finding dinosaur bones in the wilds. Bones which had shifted around over time may have given the impression of wings on the giant lizard. And so many cultures have these, I suspect they dont all come from the same origin. Though I am not primitive, I have trouble imagining I would see an anaconda and think it something other than a large snake.


Also, the movie SuckerPunch was the only one I saw that gave speculation as to how the fire happened. They had two stones or glands in the neck that when they touched gave off sparks. Match that with flammable oil and knights don't have a chance.

 

[Redfrogcrab]

Also, the movie SuckerPunch was the only one I saw that gave speculation as to how the fire happened. They had two stones or glands in the neck that when they touched gave off sparks. Match that with flammable oil and knights don't have a chance.

unrelated but In tremors 3 the A$$-blaster stage of the graboid life cycle used a chemical explosion to produce thrust and glide over Burt and the gang.

2 glands of explosive liquids that combine and ignite (or, more accurately, go kaboom)

 

[TheKillerBs]

I suspect that if the truth could be known, the origin of dragons might include other factors than just snakes and dinosaurs. I saw a documentary once that suggested the idea of wings could have come from travelers finding dinosaur bones in the wilds. Bones which had shifted around over time may have given the impression of wings on the giant lizard. And so many cultures have these, I suspect they dont all come from the same origin. Though I am not primitive, I have trouble imagining I would see an anaconda and think it something other than a large snake.

And a lot of dinosaurs actually had wings. Still do, to this day, in fact, considering birds are dinosaurs.

The original word drakōn is speculated to refer to a snake. It certainly also meant snake during the classical and koine periods, and most of the creatures it applied to were serpentine and aquatic in nature (hence why in Revelation 12:9, the devil is referred to as a great dragon and ancient serpent). Over the centuries, the conception of the creature the word applied to changed to the point where we now think of a flying, fire-breathing lizard rather than a gigantic snakelike sea monster.

 

[_Michael_]

I didn't see any mention of the method employed by the Peter Dickinson in his Flight of Dragons series. Gorbash and Smrgol bullied a pack of gnomes into handing over quartz crystals, which they then ingested and compressed in their gizzard to create a piezo-electric effect that then sparked flammable gases produced by digestions that were belched forth.