(As requested by Arz.)
The anatomy of a dragon
Many of us have long been fascinated and enthralled by myths, stories and fairy tales since we were young. Reading stories of fairies and princesses, knights and kings, and grand battles in the name of honor. Yet, no character in all of these stories captivates more minds and imaginations than the mighty dragon, and rightly so. As a child, I heard stories of malevolent dragons who stole damsels, munched on poor villagers, stored treasure in their caves, and used devoured Knights swords as toothpicks. As I aged, I read stories that depicted dragons in many different lights, like the Bible which uses the dragon as a symbol for Satan, or Chinese originated tales that painted dragons as bearers of good luck and fortune. So I decided to get down to the bottom of it, what is a dragon? What did it look like, what did it eat? Were they real, or just fictional beasts meant to make stories more interesting? Were they good, or were they bad?
I think the beginning is always the best place to start, so let's look at the history behind dragons. The word "dragon" actually has a Latin origin, meaning snake or serpent. This suggest that the Europeans who coined the term associated them more with snakes, and not lizards or dinosaurs like many do today. The earliest accounts of dragons come from about 4,000-5,000 BC. One account is of a dragon over 50 miles in length, with a head a mile long! It is said he lived in the sea and could kill birds from 30 meters away. For those of us who are not familiar with the metric system, 30 meters is almost 99 ft! Though the accounts from the Ancients of Near East from 4,000-5,000 BC are old, there is one even more descriptive. Though the word "dragon" is not used, I think we all know what is being talked about in Job 41:1-34. I'll give you a sample of the text:
7Can you fill his hide with harpoons
or his head with fishing spears?
8If you lay a hand on him,
you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
9Any hope of subduing him is false;
the mere sight of him is overpowering.
10No-one is fierce enough to rouse him.
Who then is able to stand against me?
11Who has a claim against me that I must pay?
Everything under heaven belongs to me.
12"I will not fail to speak of his limbs,
his strength and his graceful form.
13Who can strip off his outer coat?
Who would approach him with a bridle?
14Who dares open the doors of his mouth,
ringed about with his fearsome teeth?
15His back has rows of shields
tightly sealed together;
16each is so close to the next
that no air can pass between.
17They are joined fast to one another;
they cling together and cannot be parted.
18His snorting throws out flashes of light;
his eyes are like rays of dawn.
19Firebrands stream from his mouth;
sparks of fire shoot out.
20Smoke pours from his nostrils
as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.
21His breath sets coals ablaze;
and flames dart from his mouth.
22Strength resides in his neck;
dismay goes before him.
23The folds of his flesh are tightly joined;
they are firm and immovable.
24His chest is hard as rock,
hard as a lower millstone.
25When he rises up, the mighty are terrified;
they retreat before his thrashing.
26The sword that reaches him has no effect,
nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.
27Iron he treats like straw
and bronze like rotten wood.
28Arrows do not make him flee;
slingstones are like chaff to him.
29A club seems to him but a piece of straw;
he laughs at the rattling of the lance.
30His undersides are jagged potsherds,
leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing-sledge.
31He makes the depths churn like a boiling cauldron
and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
32Behing him he leaves a glistening wake;
one would think the deep had white hair.
33Nothing on earth is his equal-
a creature without fear.
34He looks down on all that are haughty;
he is king over all that are proud."
So there is the less-than-humble origins of dragons! From the beginning they have been told as marvelous, fearsome beasts with none on earth as his equal. Time to look at why that is!
The reason, as so clearly stated beforehand in the passage from the Bible, the dragon is unmatched, is because of it's design. I will now take a look at the physical anatomy of the dragon! I will detail 4 of the key systems in most all creatures that make them who they are, and enable them to do what they do. Those are, Skeletal, Muscular, Cardiovascular and last but not least, the Internal Organs. When talking about anatomy, one should always start with the foundation of the body: the skeletal system.
The bones of a dragon would have to have been very large, as many stories account for dragons being larger than life in size. Yet, many stories depict these beasts as flying creatures, which poses the question: how? Bones that large would be too heavy to make flight possible, right? Wrong! Some theories suggest that the bones of a dragon were built like birds, hollow, with thin struts of bones criss crossing inside. This meant that while the bones were extremely strong, they were also incredibly lightweight. Of course, when we talk about bones and dragons, there is one thing we simply cannot leave out: the teeth. Some theories suggest that dragons had heterodontal teeth, which means that they had different uses for different teeth. Some teeth were for nipping and smaller tasks, while others were for puncturing, tearing, and ripping meat. The four tooth types of a dragon are: Incisors, Canines, the premolars and the molars.
The Incisors - Teeth at the front of the mouth, used for nipping small pieces of meat from a carcass to reduce the amount of waste from a kill.
The Canines - These are the most pronounced teeth, large and made for a killing bite, these teeth also aided in choke holds on prey, to kill by means of suffocation.
The Premolars and Molars (carnassials) - These teeth rub against each other to tear off a chuck of meat with precision.
The design of the teeth further enforces the fact that every part of a dragon was designed to kill.
The next system to talk about is the Muscular system, and it is a further testament to the strength of these creatures. Their neck and jaw muscles were massive, as those would have been the main tools a dragon would use to kill it's prey. The muscles around the shoulder and midsection (pectoral and shoulder girdle) were large, and supported the wings, and aided in flight, though the main flight muscles attached to dragons huge sternal keel. The deltoid and biceps of a dragon would have been large and pronounced, too, for most dragons maneuvered in the air AND on land.
Now for the Cardiovascular system. A dragon would not be ectothermic (cold blooded), because it is impossible for an ectotherm to fly. Therefore, they have the cardiovascular arrangement like that of other predatory mammals, including a very large four chambered heart. This allows for proper blood supply, and no mixing between oxygenated and non oxygenated blood.
Now, for the very last system we will delve into: the Internal Organs. (For all of you wondering how fire breathing would work, this passage is for you!) There is a very detailed scientific explanation for this, but I'm going to break it down to lay mans level. (More for me than anyone else.) When a dragon eats, a microorganism in their small intestine breaks down food into organic materials, like Methane, which is the simplest hydrocarbon compound. Those microorganisms also break down food into saturated hydrocarbons called alkanes, which can be combustible in the presence of oxygen. The exact chemicals possessed by different dragon species can vary, but the reaction that takes place to create combustion remains pretty much the same in all. So, these hydrocarbons are stored until they are needed for fire, apon which time they are released and exposed to oxygen and ultra-violet light, that create the fire! (Isn't that amazing?!)
One quick thing I would like to add, (since I've decided that this area is too short to write a WHOLE lot on) is that dragons do reproduce sexually, the eggs must be fertilized internally. The egg(s) are then incubated by both parents, after a few months of being in the mother. (Time varies between species of dragons.) No dragons produce live young, for the same reasons birds don't. Carrying and developing a baby in the womb would make it too difficult to fly.
So, now we know about the inside workings of a dragon! They are efficient creatures, built to do what they do best: kill. No wonder they were feared by many! Another reason they struck fear in the hearts of men? Their appearance! Let's take a closer look at that, too.
Dragons were covered with rows apon rows of tightly packed scales that served as nearly impenetrable armor. The scales would have been made of keratin, just like the hair on our heads, or the fingernails on our fingers. Some theories state that scales would make a dragon too heavy, and suggest that dragons might have been covered in a leathery skin instead, but we'll leave that up to you to decide for yourself. Just as in other species in the animal kingdom, a dragon could be white. For an animal to be white, two copies of a white allele must be found to produce the color. (Note, white and albino is different!) Theories also state that most black dragons were male because the allele for the black coloring is only found in the X chromosome. Dragons may have had modificated neural spines that produced spikes or horns from the back, and could have had capillaries that ran throughout them to release excess heat when needed. The tail would have been long, and thick at the base, used like a rudder to steer, and help maneuver. It too, might have had modified neural spines along it.
Another thing I think we should look at is the senses of a dragon. The eyesight of a dragon would have been marvelous, as perfect as it gets. The slit pupil would have made the dragon able to have binocular focus, and to shift it's vision for different levels of light. Their sense of smell was also incredible, as they had a large olfactory cavity in their skull, making room for a very large olfactory gland. Dragons could hear expertly, too. Their ears swiveled in all directions to pick up on any and all sounds. (An interesting fact, it's surmised that young dragons could hear higher pitched sounds than adult dragons, while adults could hear more lower pitched.)
So.. large, with wings, possibly scales, slit pupils and claws? That does sound intimidating! Their appearance probably had great effect on how they were depicted in stories and folklore. Ever seen an animal that just LOOKS evil or scary? Well, if there ever was one, it's the dragon. After reviewing the information, I've reached a verdict on the "good" or "evil" case. My judgment? Neither. I believe that the dragon was a creature, and animal, who acted on animal instincts and habits, just like every other animal. This means it is neither good or bad, because it is not thinking about the reasons behind what it does, it just does it because it has to survive. I think it was singled out to illustrate and symbolize evil and other awful things because of it's appearance, it was judged by the way it looked. That was human error, not dragon. So all in all, the dragon is a marvelous creature, the stuff legends are made of. Whether they were covered in scales or not, or other debated issues doesn't concern me. They'll always be magnificent beasts I read about as a child, that still capture my imagination today.
Topic: The Anatomy of a Dragon (Read 3062 times)