MagiStream

Dragons have always been a fascinating topic for me!

Regarding their ability to breathe fire I think there are a number of possibilities that make sense, I remember reading a great post on Worldbuilding about that topic (How could dragons be explained without magic?)

Now whether or not they exist is another question, sadly the advances in modern technology makes it less and less likely. Still dragons were believed to be real for a long time, and still are some areas of China according to this article (The history of Chinese Dragons).

I personally can hardly believe in them due to my scientific background but secretly wish they were real !

I actually think it's cool that @Beguiled brought that up, because while dragons don't (or... haven't/don't yet??) exist scientifically, their cultural significance can't be overstated - along with other creatures like unicorns, mermaids, etc. So viewing, or believing in, dragons as from a spiritual perspective can make them every bit as "real" or as "existent" as, say.... one would a deity. I suppose, though, that starts the philosophical debate of what "exist" means, lol.

I honestly think the most LIKELY scenario is the following:

"Dragons" exist but only as other existing entities, and past descriptions of them were misguided or misunderstood because our ancestors didn't have the scientific means to describe or understand these creatures. The way past sailors mistook manatees or dugongs as "mermaids." Or to put it another way, they do exist as their own species but we do not have the information to understand them, OR it is the reverse sequence of the above and we are simply looking for the wrong creature. There are some parts of the world that their word for giraffe literally used to be "unicorn" because when they first saw the creature - that's what they called it. A "komodo dragon" doesn't breathe fire, but it has a bacterial or venomous bite.

If such creatures do exist, they probably do not fit our fairy tale description of giant flying serpant with wings - they may be more of gliders and they might spit acid like a cobra instead of fire? Or maybe something much much less hot that fire, like maybe being able to withstand higher heat than the average creature or something... Just like with mermaids. Do I think it is possible that an "aquatic ape" could/did exist? Sure. Do I think they're the beautiful sirens of legend? Not really.

That being said, I don't think their lack of existence make any less "real."

And sorry, now that I've reached the end of my thoughts I realize this was all more or less a very pretty way to say a lot of what everyone else already has - lol.

I'm firmly of the opinion that the prevalence of 'dragon' stories all over the globe is the result of ancient people finding dinosaur/other-paleofauna fossils and not being able to explain them any other way.

I have always loved dragons! But my theory is that maybe once dragons were real and actually were ancestors of dinosaurs.

My belief is generally that dragons are a concept that came up for the explanation for fossils. Both pterosaurs and that fact that they would most likely appear mos prevelently in high places when they could be seen is a good reason to think they can fly. As far as the fire breath and such, such powers of magical breath were ascribed to a vast array of mythical animals. Unicorns, griffons, angels, and genies were all given such powers in various legends so it does not suggest a unique biological aspect to dragons.

Admittedly the fact that the inuit have legends of dragons even though there are no reptiles where they live is to the idea that they existed, but they still have fossils of reptillian creatures in the area so that explains it away largely.

I think it is possible that they exist. There are countless stories/legends from many cultures about them and at some point in time these said cultures had no contact. I am skeptical of them existing due to the fact there isnt any straight forward evidence but I am open-minded that they did exist. Plus i love dragons....i collect statues/figures of them .

The argument that bothers me the most about dragons (or anything of the like) existing is that "there are no creatures with more than four limbs."
I kind of get WHY, an extra set of limbs would use up extra energy of any animal that has them, but does that make it impossible? Will that creature fail as a species?

[deleted] ignore this! Sorry, I am new and I made a double post by mistake

NodoBird wrote:The argument that bothers me the most about dragons (or anything of the like) existing is that "there are no creatures with more than four limbs."
I kind of get WHY, an extra set of limbs would use up extra energy of any animal that has them, but does that make it impossible? Will that creature fail as a species?

. . . those people have obviously never heard of insects.