Dragons Essay, Research Paper
Dragons
Introduction:
The dragon, long considered a mythical creature, which indeed once existed but is now extinct. The last one having died in captivity in 1911, was part of a traveling zoo where it was falsely labeled as a rare winged garter snake. Although scientists have so longly disputed the existence of dragons because their attributes, anatomy and abilities appeared scientifically improbable. The key word being here: “improbable” and not impossible. Few fossils of dragons have ever been found because like a bird, their bones were hollow, although some have been found ! In China they found a dragon s head, which they said to be a “horned tyrannosaurus skull” and in 1897, on the beach in Miami, the carcass of a strange snakelike creature 6 meters long was found.
There are many other examples of this in the world.
Dragonologist, Dr. Volodimir Kapusianyk is the last of his kind and is now resting in a nursing home in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan at the age of 98. Because of ill health and old age, he has not yet been able to finish his book on dragons.In this report, I will inform you on the dragon s simple anatomy, the kinds of dragons, their weapon breath, dragon encounters and dragons of today. I will even include a few pictures of dragons, where they have been seen, etc. Enjoy !
Types of dragons:
There were many types of dragons who once walked the earth, here are the most common:
The Guivre: The legless and wingless Guivre would have seemed a mere serpent, even though an immensely powerful one, except for it s massive head, horned and
bearded. Guivres liked to live in forests and wells, anywhere near water.
The Lindworm: Falling between the birdlike Wyvern and snakelike Guivre, the Lindworm had a serpentine body with one pair of legs. It was flightless which means that it had no wings. The Italian traveler Marco Polo reported seeing some while crossing the steppes of central Asia.
The Heraldic dragon: The most widespread and formidable of its kind, the Heraldic dragon had massive fangs, four clawed legs and a ridge of sharp spines that extended from its spiked nose to it s barbed and stinging tail.
The Amphitere: A legless, winged serpent, the Amphitere could be found along the banks of the Nile and in Arabia, where it guarded Frankincense-bearing trees and threatened all those who would harvest the precious resin.
The Wyvern: Feared for its viciousness and for the pestilence it brought to northern Europe, Greece and Ethiopia, the Wyvern had a coiling trunk that bore a pair of eagle s legs, which were tucked beneath it s wings. The name is derived from the Saxon word Wivern, or “Serpent”.
Weapon Breath:
Fire Breather: The breath weapon of a dragon is not a magical thing that spread out of nowhere but had a more scientific explanation. When we eat, our digestive system creates a gas known as methane (CH4). Dragons, unlike humans and other animals store this gas into another kind of lung that will serve as a bag to hold the gas that will later be mixed with a small amount of phosphorous (P4) that has the
propriety to ignite in fire at the contact of air. When the dragon wants to breathe fire, the methane is released into the lung and when the gas is in the air, the phosphorous ignites and also puts the methane on fire.
Frost Breather: Some dragons breathe a cone of frost. The explanation for this resides also in the food that the dragon ingests. The food is broken down in the stomach, primarily for nutrition, but the remains bear some chemical reactions that will give off a gas, supposedly nitrogen. The gas is compressed by very strong muscles, exactly like the base system of a refrigerating system. The dragon doesn t need to think for it because it is spontaneous and painless. When the dragon needs to freeze an opponent, the highly compressed nitrogen that almost reaches the liquid state, is released in the lungs, and when the gas comes into the air it uncompresses at an unimaginable speed. The result is that the gas absorbs all the heat in the environment. This causes the temperature in the breath to drop to an average of 75 degrees C. Anyone caught in the path of the breath without heavy heat protection was at least seriously injured or killed.
Acid Breather: This type of dragon had a special organ that allowed it to create an excessive amount of a powerful acid which it also used to break down food. Whenever it pleased, it could spew the acid from its mouth (vomiting), and this would burn its opponent. There is a direct link between the breath and the food, if the dragon is starving, his breath weapon does not regenerate.
Dragon Encounters:
Dragons are sea serpents. Throughout history, water dragons have often been sighted, with the most recent incidents dating back to the beginning of the twentieth century.
The most scientifically reliable description is that of Peter Carl van Esling, the director of Hague Zoo, who gives an account of a water dragon sighted during a voyage to collect marine species in the Atlantic Ocean during the 1860’s. He wrote: “We saw a gigantic reptile, bright blue and silver in colour. He swam gracefully around the ship before the sailors eyes and submerged himself without a splash. His eyes were enormous, with vertical pupils and an intelligent expression. They seemed luminous, but this effect could be due to the reflection from the setting sun. His head was adorned with bright blue and green crests. Even though he disappeared under the water and we did not see him again, he appeared to measure some seven meters in length, and on his back, we could make out something resembling crests or fins. I think he was serpent-like, but the sailor beside me thought he saw legs and claws. We baptized him Megophias.
Sea serpents (Water dragon) – East Coast
Sea-serpents seem to be a cosmopolitan breed. They share a marked taste for fine weather, being rarely seen except in warm, sunny weather and calm seas. They prefer to swim in warm ocean currents, spending the summer months in the northern hemisphere and migrating in the winter to the southern hemisphere.
A great number of sightings of sea-dragons, known as sea-serpents have been recorded; numbered among witnesses are such personages as scientists, priests and bishops.
In an article he wrote in 1817, the French-American scientist Rafinesque-Schmaltz wrote of a two hundred foot long sea-serpent seen by Mrs. Lee, in 1805, near Cape Breton and Newfoundland. She stated: “Its back was dark green and it stood in the water in flexuous hillocks and went back through it with impetuous noise.”
The first recorded sighting in Canada water was on July 15, 1825, in Halifax Harbour. It was seen by several people from entirely separate positions. They described it as having “a body as big as a tree trunk… The animal had about eight coils or humps to its body and was about sixty feet long.”
A similar creature was seen next summer by William Warburton, south of Newfoundland.
Sea-serpents – East Coast (continued)
On May 15, 1833, in Mahone Bay, fourty miles west of Halifax, three officers and two enlisted men of Her Majesty’s Navy were relaxing on the deck of a fishing boat when they sighted at a distance of one hundred and fifty to two hundred yards: “… the head and the neck of some denizen of the deep, precisely like those of a common snake, in the act of swimming, the head so far elevated and thrown forward by the curve of the neck as to enable us to see the water
under and beyond it. The creature rapidly passed, leaving a regular wake, from the commencement of which, to the forepart, which was out of water, we judged its length to be about 80 feet; and this within rather than beyond the mark… It is most difficult to give correctly the dimensions of any object in the water. The head of the creature we set down at about six feet in length, and the portion of the neck which we saw, at the same; the extreme length, as before stated, at
between 80 and 100 feet. The neck in thickness equaled the bole of a moderate-size tree. The head and the neck of a dark brown or nearly black colour, streaked white in irregular streaks.”
The five principal witnesses signed with their names, ranks and dates on which they received their commissions.
Dragons of today:
Komodo dragon: The Komodo dragon is one of a kind and very interesting. It is the largest known reptile still in existence today. It has a very violent tendency and is a good swimmer. It is even known to swim one and a half kilometers from it’s home to the nearest island, to prey on domestic goat. This type of lizard is carnivorous, which means that it only eats meat. It can even eat people. The Komodo dragon was one of the last reptiles to have been discovered. It was discovered in 1912. It is only foundin the vicinity of India, such as on Komodo Island.
Dragons simple anatomy:
The skeleton: The dragon was the largest flying creature known to man.
Because of it’s size, maintaining it’s weight in the air seemed close to impossible.For this to happen, the dragon’s physical structure (anatomy) had to be differentfrom any other reptile on earth. Also, it’s bones would have to be like those of abird, being hollow to decrease it’s weight. Powerful wing muscles and broadshoulders could support the massive wings of the creature, rendering flight possible.
The skin (scales): Many dragons of different kinds had different attributes, like the colour of their scales. The different colour variety was blue, red and green, every one being tough and shiny. The scales were pentagonal, shaped like teardrops with two long sides, and two smaller ones with a very short one attached to its skin. The dragon could make them stand on end whenever it wanted to preen them. It did not however, have scales on it’s abdomen and neck from generations of living underground.
Physical description: The dragon could measure anywhere from 8 to 50 feet inlength. It was a reptilian resembling creature which liked to bury itself in cavesor water to keep itself cool. Because of it’s violent appearance, slaying a dragon was a knight’s greatest feat. Most dragons had only four claws on each “foot”,although some were said to have five. Their teeth resembled those of our prehistoric inhabitant Tyrannosaurus Rex, which made it a very dangerous predator. Some researchers also say that the dragon survived from the prehistoric era, like the alligator.
Articulary system: To pump blood through it’s body, the dragon needed aarticulary system unlike that of any being that ever lived. Not to mention thatit had a huge heart to pump the blood rapidly through it’s body, being warm-blooded.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, I believe there is substantial evidence to say that dragons once existed. I hope you have enjoyed my report and now think of dragons differently.
If you wish to pursue your interest in dragons, you can find information at your local library or on the internet.