'Real' Dragons

[Dragon Spirit]

I hate using that as a title, but I'm referring to the animals of today that resemble dragons in some way or form. I just watched this hour long episode of'Nature' on PBS called 'The Dragon Chronicles', and I found some parts very interesting. So this is where you can talk about those modern-day relatives of the dragon.

What really surprised me about the program was that it actually talked about a lizard that I had never heard of before. Which is really strange, because I usually know many unique animal (especially lizard and snake) species. (by the way, if you ever wanted to know about a lizard with three eyes, its the tuatara. Look it up) Anyway, the animal I learned about is something from the genus 'draco'. You see - even named for dragons. These dracos can actually glide, using a flap of skin around that connects their ribs (or something like that).
www.wildasia.net/images/380/RG-Draco-maximus.jpg

There's a picture. I thought it was really amazing. Of course, I'd heard of flying squirrels, flying fish, and even flying snakes before, but this is the first time that I remember hearing about the draco.

[Dragonelle]

AWWWW I think that the draco is the most adorable and most fasinating animal I've ever seen! I would love to have one as a pet! I think they look very much like dragons, and I have never heard of them either. I think it's great there's a mordern day dragon among us!!

[Dragon Spirit]

Another 'dragon' that they brought up in this show I watched was simply their explanation of the 'fire-breathing' dragon. As in, not actual fire, per say. They talked about the Spitting Cobra (that's what I've always heard it called, I forget if it called it by a different name on the program). It's a type of cobra from India that can actually, well, spit its venom. And it spits it right into the eyes of anything that threatens it, which does indeed 'burn' quite a bit. Not quite fire, but I can see how this guy in the documentary could make the connection.

[IsleofAndyman]

Dragons have been around for a very long time - over 1000 years I think. Maybe some long-extinct, long-forgotten animal was the basis for them?

Lots of cool-looking animals of today do resemble dragons. And there are Kimodo Dragons, too.

[Dragon Spirit]

Yeah, they spent about half the show with Komodo Dragons, which bothered me. First reason it bothered me is that there are very few people who don't know about Komodo Dragons. Thirty minutes didn't need to be dedicated especially to them. Second reason being that I don't find Komodo Dragons to be anything like dragons at all. They're the biggest lizard in the world, but that's their only resemblance. They act like instinct-based brutes, and as the guy from the program pointed out, the legends of dragons usually have them as clever, cunning, or wise. (He used a water monitor lizard to demonstrate this, because they are among the most adaptable and smart species of lizards.)

But yeah, dragons have been around for longer than a thousand years - I don't know about Europe, but Asia has had legends of dragons since... well, at least since they learned to write. Probably longer.