Your take on dragons.

[Twisted Warthog]

Holy crap man. You belong in a school or library.

[Triton]

where i think the legend or myth of dragons may have originated (in part at least) is hundreds or thousands of years ago there is some large land disturbance or something that moves a lot of earth, the people of the time are out and about sometime after and see these huge bones and skulls and such of some sort of horrible giant lizard creature, people see something they cant explain and invent something to make sence of what they see, thus the myth of the dragon is born. you get the idea

[Felino]

Dragons rawk, they seem real enough when i am asleap!

[teraflop122]

I see yout point Limewater. However (and I'd need Kurt_'s confirmation on this) I believe the question was whether we thought large, flying or dinosaur-like creatures existed recently, or still exist. You know; myths of dragons flying around as recently as the middle ages, or anytime within the span of recorded human history.

I should elaborate on my "large remains" remark. We have uncovered plenty of dinosaur fossils, but these are dated to long before human history- long before the evolution of humans, even. What I meant to say was that we have not uncovered the remains of dragons or dinosaurs that had lived within the past few thousand years.

According to wikipedia (your number one source for mostly accurate information!) some dragons were said to be small, like the size of a bear or even a butterfly. In this case almost anything could be said to be a dragon. Crocodiles especially come to mind.

...heh, I could so see a drunkard running away from a butterfly crying "Dragon!" at the top of his lungs.

[Limewater]

I see yout point Limewater. However (and I'd need Kurt_'s confirmation on this) I believe the question was whether we thought large, flying or dinosaur-like creatures existed recently, or still exist.

Yes, it specifically was referring to such creatures living within the last few thousand years.

I should elaborate on my "large remains" remark. We have uncovered plenty of dinosaur fossils, but these are dated to long before human history- long before the evolution of humans, even. What I meant to say was that we have not uncovered the remains of dragons or dinosaurs that had lived within the past few thousand years.

How many remains of any animal that lived within the past few thousand years do we have? Excluding species which either exist today or died out only within the last hundred years or so, we don't have many.

Billions and billions of animals have lived in the past three thousand years, but just about the only ones that we have recovered today are ones whose remains were actively preserved by humans upon death.

Assuming the dating for all of the dinosaur fossils is correct, and knowing that crocodiles have persisted in a largely unevolved state since then, the only way I would know that crocodiles existed a thousand years ago would be to look at a living one today or look at one that died in the last hundred years or so and was preserved. I'm not likely going to find thousand-year-old or even ten thousand year old remains of one.

Why would things be any different with a less common large reptile that would have been killed off a thousand years ago (or possibly more recently).

...heh, I could so see a drunkard running away from a butterfly crying "Dragon!" at the top of his lungs.

A thousand years ago, people might have believed him.

[teraflop122]

I cannot argue or debate your reply until I fully understand what your point is. So, what is your point? What, specifically, are you trying to prove?

I mean, I suppose there really isn't any reason why a large, dangerous animal couldn't have lived a few thousand years ago without our knowing about it.

I have been arguing against the possibility of a giant, flying lizard attacking settlements and breathing fire.

[ShockSlayer]

Dragons were eliminated by medeval nerds.

SS

[Sir Games-A-Lot]

Personally, I believe dragons a purely an element of fiction. They serve the same purpose as hostile extra terrestrial beings in many more recent works: Representing a force much greater and more irresistible than anything humans are capable of, requiring an as yet unheard of feat of strength or knowledge on the part of humanity.

[Valium]

What about the Komodo dragon, they're real.

[Twisted Warthog]

What do you mean by hostile Extra Terrestrials? Are you talking about The Greys or The Reptilians?

The Komodo Dragons a Lizard you retard.

[Valium]

What do you mean by hostile Extra Terrestrials? Are you talking about The Greys or The Reptilians?

The Komodo Dragons a Lizard you retard.

Could have evolved from a dragon, would explain the name.

[Sir Games-A-Lot]

What do you mean by hostile Extra Terrestrials? Are you talking about The Greys or The Reptilians?

I'm talking about dragons and extraterrestrial beings as a symbolic device in mythology, it wasn't meant to be that specific. They are a representation of a common concept (creatures more powerful than ourselves) which would explain the similar usage of the dragon through out otherwise isolated cultures.

you retard.

You're just mad because the voices only talk to me...

[Limewater]

I cannot argue or debate your reply until I fully understand what your point is. So, what is your point? What, specifically, are you trying to prove?

I'm not actually attempting to prove anything.

I just think that the widespread existence of dragon lore indicates that, at least at some point in human history, such a creature existed.

I have been arguing against the possibility of a giant, flying lizard attacking settlements and breathing fire.

But large, flying, fire-breathing lizards do show up in the lore of otherwise disparate cultures, just as large serpentine creatures show up in the lore of otherwise disparate cultures. Again, let me clarify that not all dragons depicted in these cultures are considered to have been either flying or fire-breathing.

I am somewhat skeptical of the fire-breathing claim. I imagine that it was probably a conclusion people jumped to based upon incomplete observation, similar to the way the salamanders were believed to be born of fire. But I'm not totally closed to the idea.

The flight thing as well seems widespread enough to be based upon a real creature.

I think that these ideas may actually be the amalgamation of several distinct types of dragon, not all of which flew or were associated with fire, but were still real creatures.

To Sir-Games-A-Lot:

I may be misreading you, but there is a pretty big distinction between the history of dragon-lore and tales of extra-terrestrial invasion. Namely, dragon tales have existed for thousands of years while many separate human cultures were largely independent, while tales of evil space aliens are a much more recent development and really came about since the world has become much more culturally interconnected.

[ZN13]

I think he's saying dragons were fictionally created to make us realize that we are not invincible, kinda like war of the worlds.

[Limewater]

I think he's saying dragons were fictionally created to make us realize that we are not invincible, kinda like war of the worlds.

That seems unlikely. In Europe, dragons seem to hold such a position. That's not surprising. I know I would not be too comfortable if I was face to face with a large reptilian creature.

However, in other cultures dragons appear to have been revered and worshipped or considered to be signs of good luck.

Also, there are many, many ancient tales of humans killing dragons. That hurts the invincibility argument.