The Dragon Research Paper

Dragons: A Fact from Fiction

Smoke pours from the nostrils of a fearsome scaly beast, the calm before the storm when the fire begins to stream from the throat of the creature. Men and women alike once ran in fear from the very real danger of the dragon. Despite many people believing they never existed, dragons were once creatures that roamed the earth alongside humans.

There are countless references to the existence of dragons all throughout historical mythology and texts. This serves as proof of the reality of dragons through geography and language. All countries had dragons in their mythology. Countries in Asia and countries in Europe that had no way to communicate or share ideas at the time dragons became prevalent in their mythology had

These creatures, through size, ability, and physical characteristics, all show many similarities to dragons that appeared in mythology. The dinosaurs that once roamed the earth show many similarities to dragons. Both creatures were large, reptilian or portrayed as such, and some dinosaurs had the ability to fly, like dragons. “The dragons of legend are strangely like actual creatures that have lived in the past. They are much like the great reptiles which inhabited the earth long before man is supposed to have appeared on earth. Dragons were generally evil and destructive. Every country had them in its mythology.” (World Book Encyclopaedia) Without organized archaeology, it would have been very difficult for every country to have dragons in their mythology without being able to uncover and hypothesize about the fossils of dinosaurs. Some reptiles that are still living species today show signs of relation to dragons. The Draco Volans, a small reptile of about 23 centimeters, looks and flies the same way dragons portrayed in myth and media do, causing many to believe it has simply evolved from the dragon. Many organisms such as insects have evolved from prehistoric times to be smaller, and it is possible that the Draco Volans is an example of this. The Komodo Dragon has often been associated with the dragons found in myths and historical texts. This reptile could be