Hi everyone,
How great it is if our world is inhabited by a mythical creature called dragons? There are a lot of movies out there which depicted what would it be like when dragons existed in our world or any hypothetical world. I mean we do enjoy watching Harry Potter, Dragon's Heart and Game Of Thrones during the weekend so let's assume that the majority of the world's population were curious about dragons. When I was a child, I truly believe that the dragon exists. At some point, I thought dinosaurs are dragons. Well, they were until the word dinosaur which meant terrible lizards was coined in 1842 by a biologist named Richard Owen to describe the creature which lives during the Mesozoic era.
I was fascinated by any animals which resemble my own imagination of a dragon and since we have never seen or found any evidence which could prove whether a dragon exists or whether a dinosaur is actually a dragon, so the concept remains hypothetical. Before the dragon's theory was replaced with a theory of dinosaurs in 1842 (or earlier), people have some kind of idea and believe that all of the fossilised evidence belong to a dragon. Well, this subject riddled with a lot of arguments, problems and even entanglement between science and religion.
Some said that the theory of dinosaur was created by an Evolutionist, with a goal to disprove whatever that has been written in the bible (I'm not a Christian, so I'm not sure how accurate this information is), but in China, a significant portion of the populations still believe that the dinosaur bones were actually dragon bones. Dragons were an important figure in China and most of the fossilised evidence of dinosaurs were discovered in that particular country. China is a huge continent and in the past, it was speculated that most of the dinosaurs live in either China or India so it is quite reasonable to assume that if you wanted to find dinosaur bones, China would be one of the great choices.
I'm not going to take any side in this feud, but if a dragon does exist, then it would be cool. In 2007, a village located in Beijing has been using a significant amount of dinosaur bones (I will just use "dinosaur" and if you believe otherwise, you can imagine I wrote it as "dragon") to alleviate muscle cramps and dizziness. They boiled the dinosaur's bone along with a few herbs to treat a headache and if they wanted to fix a fracture or any related injuries, they would grind the bones into a paste. When a group of Paleontologists came to the village, they discovered that the bones actually belonged to a plant-eating dinosaur which walked the earth approximately 100 million years ago.
Well, the question is, is it true that dinosaurs are actually dragons? Well, I wouldn't know but I'm sure most of you (readers) especially those who are currently studying on this subject would have a better understanding on this matter. The more I read about dragons and dinosaurs, the more confused I'm getting. People nowadays were sometimes, desperate to prove something they believe in without thinking the possible consequences that might follow. In 2016, a picture of what appears to be a dead dragon circulated on the social media with a caption to attract readers saying something like "a dragon was found and killed in Malaysia". Well, since the dragon is a fascinated mythology, the pictures went viral until a subsequent video shows that the "dead dragon" was actually a sculpture which was taken from a different angle to make it look real. Funny isn't it?
Have you ever heard about a giant snake called the Titanoboa? It is a huge and long fossilised structure which thought to belong to a snake which has been living 10 million years ago post-dinosaur extinction event. It measured around 12 metres in length and in some culture, they were thought as an embodiment to a serpentine dragon which has extinct. When we are talking about the type of dragons, there were two kinds of anatomical structures which were popular among people who believe that a dragon existed. The first one would have an almost similar physical structure to the apex predators which has been living in the Mesozoic era such as the famous Tyrannosaurus rex. The second one concern with an anatomical structure resembling a snake, either with a small set of legs or none (If you have watched Dragon Ball before, you would know how it would look like).
There are a lot of mythologies which depicted dragons as an elongated creature resembling a snake including the Hydra but there is essentially no fossil evidence which could have suggested that a 5-headed dragon existed (I'm not going to comment regarding the capabilities of their head to grow 2 more if one is cut off). If Titanoboa is indeed a dragon, then, it could be easily thought of the serpentine dragon which some of the world's population has been believing in (minus the legs of course).
Well, how about the idea of having a dragon which can fly? There is some fossilised evidence which suggested that, even though some dinosaurs have wings, they couldn't actually fly; they can glide through the air which could give an impression of flying. According to the evolution of a winged creature, the earliest dinosaur which couldn't fly evolved into a flying monster by turning their upper limbs into a set of wings equipped with modified fingers. It's like they were given a choice, whether to have functional limbs or a set of wings which would allow them to roam the sky. Well, some of the dragons in various mythologies violated this concept. They were imagined to be able to grab its prey with their upper limbs while flying around.
Most of the launching powers to fly should be originated from their huge hind legs, in which the force should be transferable to its wings. However, one of the dinosaurs called the Pterosaurs were never big; they have relatively small hind legs and torso's muscle but being one of the earliest creatures which can fly, their upper limb strength should compensate the lack of leg's muscle required to lift themselves up. Some dragon's concept was a bull in which they can fly but without any wings. Unless they have some kind of magical attributions which would allow them to defy gravity anytime it wanted, then, they couldn't fly without wings (I'm not sure they can without legs either).
Let's talk about our hypothetical dragon's intelligent. If you remember about an article that I have written in the past regarding Bujang Senang, a man-eating crocodile in Sarawak, Malaysia, you would know that reptiles can be extremely intelligent especially when they dealt with an intelligent prey. An intelligent creature is usually associated with a bigger brain which might be an important key to survival for that particular creature. I mean, we often heard about how a dragon is immortal and looking at some of the reptiles which have been practically living for a century, it is possible to live a long lifespan if they adopted slow metabolism. That's why, dragons were often depicted to sleep for a longer period of time before they woke up, looking for prey to satisfy their metabolic needs.
Even though the notion of flame-breathing dragons is illogical, there are a few animals which are known to spit a certain type of chemical which can seriously injure anything that threatens them. The fire produced by the dragons might have been the result of chemical mixtures produced by multiple glands which burn at the back of their throat before it can be spat out by using their own breath. There are a lot of animals which can be thought of as the dragon of the animal kingdom but none of them spits out fires. The closest one would be an insect which is known as the Bombardier Beetle which would produce a stream of a hot boiling liquid to protect itself from the danger posed by its predators.
Well, we might not have any evidence which could suggest either dragon exist or dinosaur is actually a dragon but we do have some idea what they would look like if they were. Some evidence might have strongly suggested the existence of a creature which resembles the niche of a dragon in the past, but we can't really assume it is was in fact true. Even though I'm fascinated by dragons, but in my own personal opinion, they didn't exist; well that was me and everyone are entitled to their own opinion. We do have a few animals which can be the representation of dragons in the animal kingdom and I would write about them soon. Have a nice day and if you have any insight regarding the topics, I would appreciate it so much if you can drop your comment in the comment section below. Thank you.
References and further reading materials
- The Myth of Dinosaurs the Reality of Dragons. Retrieved on June 1st, 2018.
- Sir Richard Owen: The man who invented the dinosaur. Retrieved on June 1st, 2018.
- Chinese Eat Dinosaur Bones As Medicine. Retrieved on June 1st, 2018.
- Dead Dragin In Malaysia?. Retrieved on June 1st, 2018.
- Giant boid snake from the Palaeocene neotropicsreveals hotter past equatorial temperatures. Retrieved on June 1st, 2018.
- How evolution could give rise to real-life dragons. Retrieved on June 1st, 2018.
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The dragon myth is probably linked to the discovery of dinosaur bones. This sounds very logical to me.
They actually have similar body features, just the wings that separated them. Or maybe a dragon is a type of dinosaur (smiles)
Well, it is possible.
Did you mean a dragosaurus?
Ok, maybe not. Lol.
Dragoraptor then?
Maybe Petrodragon. Hahaha
Hello @chloroform
Haha😂 you would make a good evolutionist if you are to consider a career in that direction. The way and tone of your writing make this article very interesting to read.
I read this and I laughed. Many people in this part of the world, including my siblings, made a huge case out of this. I am going to show them this post, thanking God I have found the real gist behind this.
Regards.
@eurogee of @euronation and @steemstem communities
Thank you for your input. Appreciate it.
This is a lovely article, I must say.
To me, if dragons and dinosaurs existed, I believe dragons were different from dinosaurs(smiles).
Hahahaha, a very wise title I must say, it definitely would have drawn a lot of people. Hahaha.
You just brought GOT to my mind, can't wait for 2019.
I really enjoyed reading through this article. I would read on this creature, Bombardier Beetle, it seem quite interesting the way you wrote about it.
Me too. Thank you for your feedback.
The stories we see in movies that depicts the reality of dragons seem so real, and makes one think dragons really existed. waiting for your write up on animals that can be the representation of a dragon. I hope you dont find any tho. lol.
Actually I have a few in my mind right now. It's not literally looks like a dragon but it can resembles them.
ok, anticipating @chloroform
I think we can ask the Tagaeryan queen about dragons. Oh sorry, this is steemit and not GOT.
Nice write up!
Hahaha. I think I will be risking myself being eaten by her dragons. I mean, think about how Drogon would be offended by the fact that I'm trying to say he is dinosaur instead. XD
I don't think it would be great, because controlling them would be very difficult and they will surely hunt us down :P
That snake in the picture is huge wow!
Maybe the idea behind the concept of a dragon came from what you mentioned at the end of the article. There might have been some animal capable of spitting a dangerous substance, and people from the past started to believe that substance was comparable with fire, and hence, the concept of a dragon was born.
Cool and interesting article mate.
Cheers!
Thanks, @dedicatedguy for your input.
In some culture, dragons were said to be intelligent because they need to outsmart dragon hunters. I mean come on, all it takes for us to conquer would be to kill one of them, make a fire-resistance cloth out of their skin, maybe some weapons with whatever they have and poof, suddenly dragons would be at the brink of extinction.
P/S: Most of the dragons love to sleep in a cave filled with glittering stuff like golds so it would motivate dragon hunters to kill them and grab their gold.
Hi @chloroform!
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Oh damn, this perfectly coincides with the upcoming animation movie “How to train your dragon 3”. I heard there’s going to be a white toothless in the show. Beautifully written and explained :)
Is it? It will be so much interesting then.
Jurassic Park.Great article, @chloroform! This is the kind of stuff I love to read about, and I love dinosaurs and paleontology so much I became an animator because of the book and movie
Growing up in a scientific, engineering, and artistic household got me interested in a lot of subjects and dinosaurs are just one of them.
I guess it's about time I leveraged all that accumulated knowledge and turned them into blog entries, just like this one. :)
Of course, you should. Good luck and thank you for your feedback.
The existence of dragons will make me happy because am really interested in these creatures, especially with that fire I see coming from their mouth in movies.
Yeah, you will be happy until they eat you or burn you alive.
That will not happen since they are not real.