The earliest draconic zoomorphic depictions date from the Xinglongwa culture between 6200–5400 BC, while the Hongshan culture may have introduced the Chinese character for 'dragon' between 4700 to 2900 BC.
The first dragon myths appear with the Sumerian legends of the god-mother Tiamat who transforms herself into a legged, horned serpent, and of the snake Zu who steals the law tablets. Dragons appear in Chinese and Indian legends in about 2700 B.C., and in Egypt a creation myth describes the dragon Apep.
Draconic creatures are first described in the mythologies of the ancient Near East and appear in ancient Mesopotamian art and literature. Stories about storm-gods slaying giant serpents occur throughout nearly all Indo-European and Near Eastern mythologies.
Whales. Others argue that the discovery of megafauna such as whales prompted stories of dragons. Ancient humans encountering whale bones would have no way of knowing that the animals were sea-based, and the idea of such gargantuan creatures might well have led people to assume that whales were predatory.
Dragons became extinct around 100 million years ago. The last one died out due to climate changes that occurred during that time period.
Fossils of such a beast, dubbed the "dragon of death," have been unearthed by scientists in the Andes mountains region of Argentina, according to a report by Reuters. The ancient flying reptiles roamed the skies 86 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, at around the same time as dinosaurs.
This is the backbone for what many scientists say about dragons: they are too heavy, and too big, to obtain powered flight. Dragon's wings would need to be disproportionately large, or their bodies disproportionately weightless, for them to have any chance of getting airborne.
The anthropologist David E. Jones has suggested that the dragon myth takes its origins from an innate fear of snakes, genetically encoded in humans from the time of our earliest differentiation from other primates.
The modern, image of a dragon developed in Europe during the Middle Ages through the combination of the snakelike dragons of classical Graeco-Roman literature, references to Near Eastern European dragons preserved in the Bible, and European folk traditions.
The discovery of new fossils suggest gigantic dragons were flying around Earth alongside dinosaurs 86 million years ago. Scientists in Argentina discovered a new species of flying reptiles as long as a school bus known as "The Dragon of Death."
There is a place in the world where real dragons still exist. In the designated UNESCO Komodo National Park on Komodo Island, one of 17,500 odd islands of Indonesia, you can get up close and personal with the world's largest lizard, the Komodo Dragon, on a guided tour.
Dragons Are Real
Primarily found in five islands off the southeast coast of Indonesia (Komodo, Rinca, Gili Montang, Gili Dasami and Flores), adult male Komodo dragons can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh up to 330 pounds.
The earliest known depiction of a dragon is a stylised C-shaped representation carved in jade. Found in eastern Inner Mongolia, it belonged to the Hongshan culture, which thrived between 4500 and 3000 BCE.
Possibly the oldest dragon myth recorded, the Mušḫuššu dates back to 2100 BCE. “Mušḫuššu” in the language translates to “furious snake.” The Mesopotamians described these creatures as scaly animals with the hind-legs of an eagle, the forelimbs of a lion, a thin, long body, a horned head and a snake-like tongue.
Most people would probably think it's impossible. But according to cell biologist and science communicator Paul Knoepfler, creating a dragon-like creature using CRISPR—a tool to alter DNA to change the function of a gene—might not be such a far-fetched idea.
Living Dragons
While there are no creatures on Earth that can fly and breathe fire, there are huge lizards that are known as dragons. Perhaps the most famous is the Komodo dragon, which can be ten feet long and weigh over 300 pounds.
Dragonsbane: Dragons love gold because dragon magic resonates with it to produce a narcotic-like effect that dragons easily become addicted to. Some dragons manage to break this addiction, however.
The belief in dragons was based not just in legend but also in hard evidence, or at least that's what people thought, long ago. For millennia no one knew what to make of the giant bones that were occasionally unearthed around the globe, and dragons seemed a logical choice for people who had no knowledge of dinosaurs.
A normal dragon pregnancy begins when the sperm of the mother, meets the unfertilized dragon egg, also inside the mother, which usually happens at a random time after the mother has hit puberty.
As per books, the age of the dragon is the chief factor in their strength. The older they are, the larger they become, and the stronger they are.
Dragons have the ultimate built-in defense: They can breathe fire, smiting their enemies by turning them into charred husks. But though historic and modern-day literature is rich with dragon lore (we're looking at you, "Game of Thrones"), there isn't any reputable physical evidence that these legendary creatures exist.
Unfortunately, no documented animal has the ability to breathe fire, but there is one group of animals that is widely accepted as those that come closest to doing so: bombardier beetles.
If a dragon had an organ like a bird's gizzard, it could store swallowed rocks. In birds, those rocks help break down tough foods. Swallowed flint might rub against some steel inside the dragon, sparking a flame. “Maybe what you have is sort of scales that are flint-like and click together,” van Breukelen says.