Dragon Anatomy by Marisa E. Martínez Pérsico found by by SunKat

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

The dinosaurs stopped existing over the face of the Earth millions of years ago. As man could not witness their presence, legends began spreading because of the harvesting of archaeological findings. People began to think that these primitive beings had to be gigantic creatures similar to enormous reptiles. The popular creativity added a good dose of fantasy, and thus we arrived at the existence of Dragons.

“The dragon has the capacity to assume many forms, but they are inscrutable. In general they are imagined as a creature with a horse heard, serpent tail, great lateral wings and four claws, each one provided with four nails. It is also spoken that it looks like nine creatures; their horns resemble those of a red deer, the head to a camel, its eyes to a demon, their neck to a serpent, its belly to a sea animal, its grudges to a fish, their claws to an eagle, their feet to a tiger, and their ears to an ox. There are dragons that have missing ears, so they must hear by the horns. It is habitual to represent them with pearl hanging on its neck. That pearl provides its power. The dragon becomes inoffensive if the pear is taken off.” (Bibliographical Source: The Book of the Imaginary Beings, by Jorge Luis Borges).

Beyond this meticulous inventory offered by the Argentinean writer, the conventional iconographic representations usually attribute dragons with a body of great volume, lion claws, reptile figure, eagle wings, tails similar to serpents, and fire breathing. The majority, in addition, have their bodies covered by grudges.

In History of Quadrupeds, Edward Topsell declared: “They conserve their health -as stated by Aristhoteles- by eating wild lettuces, which causes them to vomit. They practice this fail safe action when they have eaten any unhealthful food. The worst ration they can digest is an apple, which causes their stomachs to be filled with air. For that reason, they never eat an apple without taking wild lettuces previously”. A theory which is quite improbable…

Returning to their anatomy, these fantastic animals were unable to undergo several metamorphoses: to shine in the dark or to become invisible, and to shrink themselves until acquiring a very small stature; or enlarging until covering the firmament or the terrestrial surface. It is said that they rested in castles made of pearls, or by the sea. Their voice could be melodic like one of a crystal bell.

Its variable anatomy was associated to the constant mutations of clouds at the sky. For example, the Chinese were convinced that the God Dragons became visible in the morphologic changes of the weather. Shakespeare even mentioned in one of his dramatic texts that the clouds used to acquire the form of a dragon (“Sometimes we see a cloud that is dragonish”).

The supposed “dragon teeth and bones” continue to be one of the most distributed remedies within the Chinese Traditional Medicine, although in reality, they are a granulated substance derived from grass or rest of animals.