Comments on: Are There British Dragons?

By: wuffing

wuffing — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:45:47 +0000

“but it doesn’t make griffins *real*.”

Wah! Next it will be Santa Claus, and then the Tooth Fairy…

By: Finback

Finback — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:17:24 +0000

Also, citing Dickinson? He’s a *children’s author*. Just because he wrote a book suggesting dragons used methane and evolved from dinosaurs doesn’t mean *it happened*. I can easily write a book explaining the “biology” of griffins, and how they’re mammals that simply *look* avian, with a complex lung network that extends through the bones to lighten their mass, but it doesn’t make griffins *real*.

By: Finback

Finback — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:14:02 +0000

AAAAGH. I *hate* the “Frank Gordon” story; I’ve spent an extensive amount of time searching for any record of him in the annals of Australian herpetology – there’s not one. It’s a recurring story with no confirmed origin, save Rex Gilroy, who seems to be the only one who has “found” anything to do with Megalania. I once sat and wrote a long essay on why Megalania isn’t out there, and this “Frank Gordon” component was only one of about a dozen reasons why there is no giant lizard stalking Australia.

By: springheeledjack

springheeledjack — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:11:51 +0000

wuffing…I’m not up on my Tatzelwurm history, but I brought it up because it was supposed to be some sort of reptilian or worm living in European mountains…I remember the Alps as a sighting spot. It seems to fall into the same category here as European dragons.

The gas theory is a far fetched, but there is a factual basis for large flying reptilians…pteranodons and even the teratorns were large birds that might account for such things or could have given rise to the ideas of dragons. ASSuming you buy into that, but the legend of the dragon goes back a long way in time and over many, many cultures.

As for the fire breathing, it could be more of a story gotten out of hand–perhaps they spit poison or have an extremely poisonous bite (like say from a Komodo) and if so victims may have described the sensation as “burning.” Add that to the age old “telephone game” and a few story tellers down the range and we have a fire breathing dragon. Who knows, I’m just making conjecture off the cuff.

As for the paranormal explanation, that’s one of those esoteric things that I personally have no reason to pursue…if we’re talking mental creations, dimensional bleed throughs and so on, then there’s no real way to study that phenomenon other than stumbling across it, and I’m interested in corporeal cryptids that I can possibly have a chance of finding:)

I still find the issue of dragons very interesting and yes, the fossil record is far from complete, so who knows. I don’t directly buy into it, but I keep the door open just enough so that if something flies by, I’ll at least watch and listen to see what the heck is going on.

By: wuffing

wuffing — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:42:32 +0000

Are there British dragons? No.

I don’t know what the author was sniffing but he should sell as much as he can before it is banned.

The idea of large animals inflating with gas and floating away is laughable – even a modest 8 ft 90lb Komodo dragon would need a methane filled stomach the size of a US school bus – 40 x 9 x 8 ft to get off the ground. It would then be completely out of control.

As for Tatzelworms – are they not based on the completely real and well known amphibian called Proteus anguinus or Olm?

By: springheeledjack

springheeledjack — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:12:57 +0000

Actually, there is a long history of dragons in Europe (I once did a paper on such things), and I am open minded enough to think that there could be a basis in reality for a dragon. Stranger things have happened.

As for a cold climate flying reptile, well that’s one I’m not able to defend at present…though I think it’s the Alps (and correct me if I’m wrong), where people reported seeing the Taezulwurm (sp?). That was reptilian based too, I believe.

So who knows, but either way it’s interesting stuff to me.

Thanks for the good post!