#dragon evolutionary biology

[dragonology101]

A very brief overview of dragon families (excluding the class Hydroserpenes, given the scientific debate about their inclusion within Draconidae) found in North America!

Wyrms (family Pachysquamidae) are wingless, four-limbed dragons with plantigrade feet, non-overlapping scales, and external ears.

True dragons (family Draconidae) are winged, six-limbed dragons with digitigrade feet, overlapping scales, and external ears.

Wyverns (family Bipodracodidae) are winged, four-limbed bipedal dragons with digitigrade feet, overlapping scales, and external ears.

Amphipteres (family Lepidoamphitidae) are two-limbed dragons with feathered wings, no legs beyond vestigial spurs, overlapping scales, and internal ears.

Only one dragon family is not represented in North America. Dragons in the family Draceous are exclusively found in Asia, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. They're distinguished by being wingless, four-limbed dragons with digitigrade feet, overlapping scales, and external ears. They were originally grouped under the family Pachysquamidae, but were split into their own family in the 1800s. I've been lucky enough to work with some captive specimens, and I may give them their own post even though they aren't included in my guide.

[peregrinethegryphon]

Comparing Superficial Traits From Opposite Ends of the Sauropsid Family Tree Through a Visual Medium to Make a Point

~OR~

Bird Are Reptiles: The Gifset

Footage Sources: (x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

[clanoffelidae]

Now that I’ve mentioned it I wanna infodump about my alien dragons bc I haven’t talked about them in a long time and mentioning them just activated the neurodivergency

Doing everything in brief bc I’m on mobile and also have to work on moving today which I. Haven’t done yet. But I WILL-

Anyway. The basic premise for them is I wanted to tell a story about aliens living on Earth for so long people didn’t realize they weren’t originally from Earth. The fact that their biology is similar enough to an Earth organism to be mistaken for one by people without genetic sequencing or looking through the evolutionary lens at things (not realizing they seem to have no common ancestors) is the whole point.

The fact that they can breathe Earth’s atmosphere, the fact that they can consume the food that grows on Earth to meet their dietary requirements, the fact that they have surface level similarities to Earth life is all intentional! Because their story is that a ship crash lands towards the end of the last Ice Age, enough survive that they manage to gain a foothold on Earth, but soon enough they themselves have forgotten their own history, and now both humans and dragons believe that they have always shared this planet. Dragons have their creation stories, they say they were born of a giant, metal egg that flew in the heavens and spewed fire; that’s why they’re scales are as tough as that metal egg’s shell, that’s why they fly just like the egg, and that’s why they can spew fire as that egg that bore them; but those stories are the only remnants of their history.

But I also wanted them to still be alien, to still be such that a reader would look at them and the assertion that they are from Earth and start to see that things aren’t what they seem, it’s just the characters who never question it, because that’s the way it’s always been. Dragons have been here as long as human history recalls. But the reader can start to see that things might not be what they seem. (But neither side is hiding the truth, because neither side knows.)

And so we have the dragons. No special name, no special words to refer to them, they’re just dragons. In this world the mythos of dragons isn’t mythos, they’re right next door and you can go talk to them. Stories of dragons aren’t of mythical beasts, they’re stories of heroes of legend, just like humans.

Of course, the reader would quickly notice that they don’t quite line up with our classical ideas of dragons.

For one, they’re human-sized. They typically walk on four legs, but will often stand up on two to work with objects or even just have conversations. Standing up on two legs has the same social connotations as standing up from sitting; you might hang out on four legs with your friends, but if someone you want to be respectful towards approaches you you will stand up on two and straighten up unless invited to return to four. Of course, there are exceptions. It is not unheard of for groups of solely dragons to walk on all fours even in formal settings, though it is not the norm. Not the majority, but not unusual either. With humans present, however, it is considered quite rude to remain on all fours in a formal setting (barring, of course, obvious physical maladies necessitating it).

Dragons have opposable digits like humans, although they possess six rather than five, having a thumb on either side. They have similar ranges of dexterity and so both species are fully capable of using one another’s tools and machinery. Dragons also have lips dexterous enough to allow human speech, and so can speak human languages with no issue. Their digestive systems can also process human foods, including dairy; dragons themselves nurse their young.*

Their eyes are often noted to be exceptional, one of the most blatant indicators of their non-Earth origins to those looking. Their eye structure doesn’t match that of any known species.

In a way they could almost be likened to proto-eyes, for the whole organ is dark and light receptive, functioning similar to a pupil. In order to adjust focus and reduce the amount of light let in dragons have thick, dark membranes around the outside of the eye, that constrict to a circular opening like a drawstring bag. This opening moves and changes sizes, the eye itself remaining fixed in the dragon’s skull. The ocular membrane is not distinct from the rest of the eye’s color, the best indicator of where a dragon is looking being where their eye has a reflection rather than matte, as the matte black indicates the presence of the ocular membrane rather than the eye underneath. Many common nicknames and pet names used by dragons for humans they love; be it platonic, familial, or romantic; often involve the eyes. ‘Jeweleyes’ is the most common, akin to ‘sweetheart’, for the first dragons who grew close enough to look into a human companion’s eyes long enough to truly observe them likened them to precious gems for their multitudes of colors, both across the species and within the individual.

Dragons have three sexes, not two, and quite differing familial structures as a result. Dragons have males and females, akin to many Earth species, with the males having similar ranges in overall size to human females and draconic females conversely matching human males in this way. This, along with their scaled hides, is why many believed they must be related to reptiles in some fashion when draconic origins were first being investigated.

However, dragons have a third sex, known as nesters.

Nesters are non-reproductive, bearing no genitalia. Their size ranges are double that of the average draconic male, and they are so heavy that few are able to sustain flight after puberty. They have a front facing horn from the center of their foreheads akin to a unicorn, although it is curved like a blade. This horn sheds from time to time much like claws shed their sheathes. Nesters also grow a mane of hair-like fibers around their shoulders and upper chests akin to a lion’s mane after reaching puberty.

Nesters are the primary caretakers of draconic young, with their evolutionary purpose in times long past being to guard the children while the males and females hunted. Males and females produce eggs, but once the eggs are laid, it is the nester who takes over and broods over them, later raising the hatchlings who come from them in time, nursing* them when they are newly hatched and caring for them until they are adults. As such, they are what would be considered a dragon’s parent, with many dragons sharing the same parent, but with many different biological ‘parents’. The term ‘guard’ is used akin to ‘mom/dad’.

Long ago, dragons had only males and females, but lines that produced nesters produced more successful offspring, although the nester did not directly contribute genetics. In time, nesters became a commonplace part of draconic biology, and dragons grew to have three sexes as opposed to two.

Nesters were archaically considered the leaders of their clans, being the strongest as they were. Nesters would fight for clans not unlike male lions might fight for prides, their front facing horn being used for combat against both predators and other nesters. Thankfully, unlike lion prides, nesters did not kill any offspring present upon defeating the previous guard, as they themselves are non-reproductive. The reason they had to fight for a clan is because they require a lot of resources, they need a lot of food to remain healthy. A clan could only afford to have so many nesters before the resource consumption outweighs the protection provided when every day is a fight for survival.

Thankfully, this was long ago, and there is more than enough food to go around in the modern day. Many dragons still live in clans composed largely of males and females with a few nesters, but many also choose to live their own way, and many also intermingle with humans and their families. Gender stereotypes have also diminished, with nesters no longer being upheld as natural leaders and the voices of males and females rising to prominence. (Dragons never had much stereotyping or equality differences between males and females, only between those two groups and nesters.)

Common nester stereotypes include a mixture of those attributed to male and female humans, with nesters being seen as both child-rearers while also being ferocious combatants. To be weak is seen as undesirable, and a nester who doesn’t want to raise hatchlings might often be told they will change their mind later, especially by older generations. They are expected to be strong and brave, the last line of defense but the most powerful one of all. Thankfully, time lessens the strains of these expectations, but they have still shaped draconic society and influence it to this day.

There’s so much else I could say but I mostly just wanted to pick up nesters and show them off. Non reproductive third sex twice the size of the others whose ‘role’ is to raise the children, lead the clan, and absolutely annihilate threats that get too close.

Dragon kid to human kid on the playground: my guard could beat up your dad >:(

Human kid who’s never actually seen a nester: nuh-uh >:(

Elementary school teacher who knows nesters are like 10 feet tall at the shoulder and can lift entire cars: I have no doubt about that sweetie how about you two talk about something else-

* = Dragons produce a milk-like substance from glands in their throat that is fed to hatchlings orally similar to birds. To make it easier for them to feed without spilling it is first curdled internally to create a cheese that is then deposited into the hungry mouthes of young hatchlings. Dragon mouth cheese is my favorite form of psychic damage :)

Instead of pre-filled baby bottles there’s mouth-cheese charcuterie boards

God bless the unknowing human who thought to snack on their nester friend’s weird cheese plate

[twsted-kinks]

Biology Nerd (Malleus X Yuu/Reader)

>minors and ageless dni<

MC/Reader goes by Yuu and gender neutral and fat (I don't really mention that but this is self indulgent and I'm fat so reader is fat)

Something kinda fluffy for once with a bit of spice and a dash of angst

Content Warning: cultural and biological differences, Yuu not knowing about cultural differences and doing romantic and sexual things with others, Malleus letting Yuu touch him inappropriately but Yuu doesn't understand that touching him like that is very intimate and/or sexual for fae/dragons, Malleus being absolutely smitten, some slight Malleus angst about him being lonely, Grim being scared, dragon cuddles

(I'm probably gonna write more spec biology stuff with twst but idk)

Yuu will be the first to say that suddenly being ripped from your home and put into a completely different world where everything you know no longer exists or applies to reality fucking sucks. But, Yuu will also admit that they love having a whole new world to learn about. Learning the basics of a whole knew evolutionary and sociological history with multiple sapient species that are both human and non human while having access to a full college library? Sign them the FUCK up! Crowley was thankful for Yuu's enthusiasm. Simply allowing full access to the library appeased them. Grim did not have fun at first, but having a human look at him in awe helped. Yuu was so curious about his ability to speak and his connection to fire magic. They would not stop asking him so many questions!

Yuu went around learning with wide eyes like a toddler. They at least knew not to just randomly touch people and that it's inappropriate to ask in the first place, but still, they would not stop staring. Leona, Ruggie, and Jack can constantly feel Yuu's eyes on their ears and tails. Leona gets annoyed and snaps at Yuu usually while Ruggie will let Yuu touch then in exchange for either money or food. Jack doesn't comment on it while Yuu does nothing to try to touch him, and Jack is happy to keep it that way.

Floyd and Jade find Yuu's reactions to them to be greatly entertaining. During their first interaction, all of Yuu's friends immediately ran, but Yuu stayed, just staring up at the twins.

"I like y'all's teeth." And with a few simple words, the tweels were glued to Yuu. Yuu is always excited to see their mer form, but will gladly settle on hanging out with the tweels when they got legs. Yuu also enjoys being on teeth cleaning duty. They get to look at cool sharp teeth and a second jaw. They also get free food from the twins, and all they got to do is clean some teeth? Hell yeah! Azul could inform Yuu about what Floyd and Jade opening their mouths means for eel mer culture, but this little arrangement keeps the two out of trouble. Plus, Azul is afraid Yuu will go on a question asking tangent and will ask about Azul's mer form, and he does not want to deal with that.

The species and cultures Yuu knows the least about is the fae. Yuu honestly didn't even notice that fae were a thing until Ace pointed out the ppinty ears, and Yuu just went :o "Holy shit" :D "That's so cool!" Then there was Yuu's first time meeting Malleus. Should Yuu be more concerned about a stranger just wandering around outside their dorm? Yes, but he has HORNS! The first words spoken between the dragon fae and little magicless human were:

"Wow, your horns are pretty."

Malleus was taken aback by this human, just talking to him casually, complimenting his horns, and smiling at him with so much wonder. Even though Malleus never gave his name, his friendship with the human grew fast. Yuu came up with a multitude of names for Malleus, having a new one each time they met. Horton, Sir Hornington, Goth Babe, Briar Boy, Fae Bae, and more, but a few reoccurring ones Malleus adores. Malmal is the most recent iteration of his name that has stuck around the longest. But,, whenever Malleus visits Yuu upset, Yuu always calls him sweetie and tries to comfort him. It's gotten to a point that the Yuu always keeps a tub of ice cream in their freezer specifically for when Malleus is upset.

Malleus always knew Yuu had an interest in the different cultures and species of the Twisted Wonderland, but he didn't understand just how fascinated you were until the time for Halloween came and Yuu saw Malleus's tail for the first time. Malleus remembers it clearly. Yuu stopped a couple feet away from him, gasped, and then screamed "CHONKY TAIL!!!" The human immediately went behind Malleus, started admiring his tail, and asked so many questions. One of them being if they can touch it, and he let you, much to the dismay of Sebek who was trying to get Yuu to be more respectful. Lilia was the only one to pick up on the blush on Malleus's ears. Yuu did mistake Malleus's tail as a part of the costume, not realising it was actually a part of him at first, and apologized, but Malleus assured you it was alright and that the can keep touching his tail. He didn't mind at all.

Now, Malleus almost abuses the admiration Yuu has for his tail. Lilia, Sebek, and Silver absolutely notice his tendency to approach them and, if they were focusing on something that isn't him, Malleus will fwip out his tail and Yuu would become entranced. Yuu just adores Malleus's tail and, whenever given the chance, will touch it, pet it, even just hold it. Malleus finds it endearing and adorable.

And well, Yuu already has permission to touch his tail, why not ask Malleus if they can learn more about his anatomy? Yuu asks to touch Malleus's horns one day. Yuu’s already stepped over the line with touching his tail, so why not let Yuu touch his horns? Malleus has now turned into Yuu's personal lapcat much to Grim’s dismay. Malleus has gifted the human with a kit for horn cleaning and visits Ramshackle regularly so he can rest his head in Yuu’s lap and have them clean his horns. Yuu is pretty sure Malleus dirties his horns on purpose just so they wil clean them, but they don't mind.

One day though, during the weekend, Yuu invites Malleus over for a full-blown sleepover. Malleus is ecstatic and quickly informs his entourage. Sebek is fully against it while Lilia and Silver think this wil be good for Malleus, though Silver wants the three of them to tag along as well. It takes some convincing, but Lilia convinces the other to let Malleus have his alone time with the child of man. Malleus packs his essentials and teleports to Ramshackle to find the prefect and Grim gathering pillows and blankets, getting materials ready to build a pillow fort.

Malleus has an absolute blast. Such simple games and activities he’s never experienced before, Malleus enjoys it all. Everything is going smoothly, Malleus is relaxing, face cuddled into Yuu’s chest. A moving picture plays on the human’s little screen device while Grim snores as he sleeps on a pillow twice his size. Yuu is petting Malleus's hair, running their fingers through it when they pause at his bangs. They shift the hair covering his forehead and gasps.

“You got scales there?” Yuu says in astonishment as they study the black scales on Malleus's forehead.

“Hm? Have you not seen them before now?” Malleus asks.

“I guess I haven't.” Yuu runs their fingers across the scales. “They're pretty. I'm surprised you don't have more scattered around.”

“Oh, I do, but I find others are less intimidated when they're hidden. My clothing preferences hide a majority, but I also utilize magic to hide some of the more obvious ones.”

“But they're so pretty!” Yuu whines but then backpedals. “I mean- If you feel more comfortable hiding them then go ahead, but I bet they're very pretty.”

“Glamor is common among the fae. Changing my skin takes little effort and is of little consequence.”

“You mean your makeup?”

“It is similar to that, yes.”

“Huh, well it's your face.” Yuu shrugs. “You can do want you want, but I bet you look cute with your scales out.”

And with that, the fae leans up and parts of his face shift, revealing small scales around his outer eyes, below and behind his ears, and along the back and sides of his neck. Yuu stares at Malleus, making the fae worry for a moment, until, suddenly, the human’s hands are on Malleus's cheeks.

“Holy shit!” Yuu squees as they look over Malleus's face. “How the fuck did you make yourself prettier!”

The dragon fae’s eyes are wide for a moment, the tips of his ears a light pink, and then he chuckles. “You are truly unique, child of man.”

“Me?” Yuu laughs. “You're the one with scales here! Just- look at how the light refracts off of them! They look black, but then the light bounces off and parts of them look purple!”

“Oh?” Malleus has never noticed that before.

“You even got little ones here too!” One of Yuu’s hands moves to Malleus's ear, fingers tracing the shell.

Malleus freezes then gulps. Yuu’s fingers run up the edge of his ear, pauses at the top, then runs back down to his lobe. Malleus buries his face back into Yuu’s chest. The tips of Malleus's ears burn red, he hopes Yuu doesn't notice.

“Ah, shit.” Yuu pulls their hand away. “Do you have sensitive ears? I should've asked.”

“It’s alright.” Malleus pulls away slightly and murmurs. “It felt nice. I do not mind you touching my ears.”

“You sure?”

“I would like for you to continue.” Malleus says with a thump coming after when his tail hits the floor.

“What? Want me to massage your ears and tail?” Yuu asks with a chuckle. “Need me to get your back too?”

“Yes, that should be adequate.”

Yuu laughs, brings both of their hands to Malleus's ears, and begins to rub them. Malleus lets out a deep sigh as he practically melts under the human’s touch. Yuu continues rubbing the dragon falls ears and and coos "If you want me to get your back, you're gonna need to move."

"No." Malleus hums into Yuu's chest. "Ears now. Focus on my ears."

"Alright, alright." Yuu chuckles. What Yuu doesn't know is just how intimate this is for fae. Touching a fae's ears is considered a very intimate activity done between mates because their ears are a major erogenous zone. At this point, Malleus isn't sure about his relationship with Yuu, but Yuu touching his ears feels right to him. The fae's eyes dilate as his breathing becomes heavier the more Yuu touches his ears. The end of Malleus's tails lightly thumps onto the floor again and again.

"I don't get it." Yuu moves one of their hands into Malleus's hair and runs their fingers down to feel the scales on his neck. "I don't get how people can be so scared of you when you're basically an oversized puppy but reptilian."

A deep vibration grumbles from Malleus's chest and he lifts himself up, facing Yuu. The whites of his eyes have turned a glowing green and more scales have appeared encasing most of his neck and shoulders. The thin tips of a forked tongue poke out from and slip back into his mouth.

Yuu cups both of Malleus's cheeks in their hands and smiles. "Just a big adorable boy."

The sound of ripping fabric startles Yuu for a moment as black wings begin to tear their way from the back of Malleus's night shirt and spread open. Yuu looks at them, eyes wide, as they reach out and touch the leathery skin.

"You are truly extraordinary, child of man."

"Says the man who just sprouted wings in front of me."

"But you do not look at me with fear. You do not look at me with an otherworldly reverence. When you look at me you..." Malleus rests his hand over the one against his cheek.

"Malmal." Yuu's face shifts to a look of worry. "You okay? You can talk to me if you want."

Malleus gazes at Yuu. There' so much he wants to say, but he hesitates.

"But-" Yuu adds. "If you don't feel like talking now, we can just keep cuddling, or do you want me to massage your tail? Or maybe your wings?"

Malleus smiles. "I would enjoy that."

~~Meanwhile~~

"Hornton is gonna kill my henchman!" Grim runs on all four into the Diasomnia dorm, screaming at the top of his lungs. He quickly gains the attention of some dorm members including Sebek and Lilia (who drags a sleeping Silver behind him).

"How dare you use such a name for the Young Master!" Sebek is screaming back. Silver finally wakes up from all of the screaming, so him and Lilia get Grim and Sebek to stop screaming and have Grim finally explain why he's there.

"I heard a ripping sound and woke up to see big wings and a pair of glowing eyes on top of my henchman. That prince of yours is going to eat them!"

"Oh?" Lilia coos with a smirk. "I don't think that will be happening, at least not the type you're thinking. Still, I have not had the talk yet with that boy, so maybe we should drop by before we're stuck with a political crisis."

With a quick teleportation spell, all four are just outside the Ramshackle Dorm. The door is slammed open to reveal a dragon (that is way too big to be in the common area) curled up, sleeping like a cat, with a little human laying across his snout and forehead, passed out with a smile on their face.

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

My mom bought me this book for Christmas

The Resurrectionist by EB Hudspeth, a fantasy field guide full of anatomical illustrations of monsters and cryptids.

The musculoskeletal systems are fun to look at, but not nearly as in-depth as I would have liked. If you have more than a passing knowledge of taxonomy (or in my case, access to Wikipedia), a lot of the details fall apart under scrutiny

The harpy has four upper limbs connected to one shoulder girdle; it shouldn't have arms, only wings

The sphinx is not classified as a mammal, but is still somehow in the family Felidae with cats (and like the harpy is also drawn with only two girdles despite having six limbs. I will give the author credit for giving the sphinx a keel for the wing muscles to attach to)

It lists the Hindu deity Genesha as a cryptid, which is a no-no.

Cerberus is also explicitly not a mammal, but somehow still a canine (literally in the species Canis with wolves, dogs, and coyotes)

Both mermaids and dragons are listed as members of the order Caudata; the only extant members of Caudata are salamanders, which kinda makes sense for dragons, but not so much for mermaids (also, the author keeps playing it fast and loose with cladistics; both mermaids and dragons are in the same order despite being in different classes, and while dragons are explicitly said to be amphibians, mermaids are given the fictional class mammicthyes, which means mammal-fish. At that point, why not just call mermaids amphibians? Why make up a fake latin hybrid name?)

But what bugs me most of all is the classification of the Minotaur as its own order of mammal when in mythology it is explicitly described as a hybrid of two known species (made possible only by the cruel machinations of the divine, but still)

To use actual taxonomical nomenclature, the minotaur's species would be B. taurus × H. sapiens (specifically B. taurus♂ × H. sapiens♀; there are, to my knowledge, no legends of H. sapiens♂ × B. taurus♀). That's how ligers, tigons, mules, zorses, pizzly bears, narlugas, etc., are described.

If I had written this book, I would have leaned more into evolutionary biology. Most land animals have four limbs because they all evolved from boney lobe-finned fish, which split off from the boneless sharks and rays millions of years earlier, so any six-limbed vertebrates would need to be descended from a fictitious category of six-finned fish which would either be an offshoot of boney fish/tetrapods (I guess they'd be hexapods, though that term refers to insect arthropods), OR a precursor to boney and cartilaginous fish that both clades split away from much earlier (it's easier to lose structures than to gain them, so it makes more sense for a six-limbed ancestor to spawn four-limbed descendants than the other way around).

Think about how different elephants are from humans, and humans are from aligators, and aligators are from penguins, and remember that they all evolved from the same ancestor tiktaalik, an amphibious fish that existed some 375 million years ago. Imagine a precursor six-limbed species and how diverse all its descendants would look after 400 million years. Save for the occasional instance of convergent evolution causing two unrelated species to independently evolve similar body plans to fill the same niche, tetrapods and hexapods would look nothing alike. There would be very little recognizable overlap between the two. A six-limbed "pegasus" would not look like a real world horse, and a six-limbed "dragon" would not look reptilian/dinosaur-ish, for much the same reason that giraffes don't look like frogs; they're just too distantly related. Bonless sharks and boney fish and whales/dolphins all have similar looking bodyplans only because their environment requires the same hydrodynamic shape, while terrstrial vertebrates are much more physically diverse.

[wings-of-fire-confessions]

As a evolutionary biology nerd the wings of fire universe is my biggest gripe right now

The existence of Whiteouts entire bloodline suggest that all the dragon tribes are one species, as they can have fertile offspring even if you take two dragons from a different tribe

This will never not be something I’m mad about

.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

do you have any tips for writing speculative biology?

Speculative biology—(also referred to as "speculative zoology", though it is by no means limited to animals) is a sub-genre of science fiction which combines speculative fiction (i.e., Science Fiction, Fantasy, Alternate History and everything in between) with creature design, and deals with evolution in the future, on other worlds, or in alternate timelines, the same way that many other sci-fi works discuss technology.

This is one of the most fun sub-genres to explore. Here are just a few writing tips.

Read/watch a lot of media that plays with this sub-genre, and learn from them. Examples:

A Memoir by Lady Trent - Marie Brennan describes a low fantasy world with largely the same culture and animals as real life, but also home to very diverse dragons. The dragons are given extensive analysis through the character of Lady Trent, a naturalist dedicated to studying their taxonomy, anatomy, behaviors and ecology.

Dreamwork's How to Train Your Dragon - sometimes dabbles in this, displaying different types of Dragons as different species with a couple overlapping traits, implying that they evolved from a common ancestor. This is most prominently shown in Book of Dragons which describes at least 6 major taxonomic families of Dragons that most dragons in the franchise belong to.

Doctor Who: "The Lazarus Experiment" - has Richard Lazarus being mutated into a fearsome giant centipede/scorpion-like monster after an experiment with an anti-ageing machine goes wrong. The Doctor describes the monster as a creature of evolutionary potential — something that evolution could have turned humanity into if it hadn't gone the "two arms and legs, ten fingers and toes" route — lying dormant within Lazarus' genes.

Research a lot. Here are just a few resources that may help you in writing this sub-genre, particularly with creature design:

Here's a really good article that discusses some evolutionary rules

A brief resource on Evolution Rules

This article called, "Rules of evolution"

A Wildlife Fact Sheet

After doing all the research, and the devouring, and the hoarding of all the resources you can get your hands on, hoping they'll bleed into your story once you start writing, because admit it, you are procrastinating by asking this question—here is the writing tip that pervades all genre: let go. "Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation. Affectation itself, beginning with the need to define some sorts of writing as ‘good’ and other sorts as ‘bad,’ is fearful behavior." —Stephen King

So let your soul colour the pages. Particularly with this genre, allow your imagination to run free. Be as creative as you can. Because "when you write, you want to get rid of the world, don’t you? Of course you do. When you’re writing, you’re creating your own worlds." —Stephen King

Sources: 1 2

Hope this helps. Please tag me, or send me a link if it does. I would love to read your work!

More: On Worldbuilding, Character Development, Fantasy

[thedragon-and-hisboy]

HTTYD Documentary AU?

Ohohohoho this is funny

The twins steal the camera and film a dramatic saga about Chicken while the producers chase them

Numerous closeups of Hookfang with snotlout Whispering "make him look cool!!!"

Hiccup and Fishlegs making up half the runtime of infodumping about dragons and their biology and habits and habitats and evolutionary adaptations and defensive mechanics and hunting styles and

Astrid does a perfect job with the nadder segment of the documentary. She understands the assignment. She also does a fighting demonstration that leaves a few people injured.

Thanks for the ask!!! This was fun :)

[o-craven-canto]

Great news: yesterday I (and the professor and two of my PhD fellows and dear friends) led didactic speculative biology practicals for the zoology course at my university. Groups of students were assigned four different flying mythical creatures (harpy, dragon, gryphon, and pixie) to criticize from the biomechanical, physiological, ecological, and evolutionary point of view, and reconstruct in a more biologically plausible way. One group started making a phylogenetic tree showing the position of gryphons within Accipitrid birds and discussed the developmental processes that could led them to acquire a third pair of limbs; another analyzide all types of reproductive arrangements for harpies (viviparity vs. oviparity, parthenogenesis, degree of parental care) that would explain observations by Greek sailors; and another started designing an elaborate life cycle for fairies with parasitic larvae and a winged dispersal stage.

We have another go next week. Looking forward to seeing their designs. <3

[dragonology101]

Myths and Misconceptions: Dragon "Fur"

Dragons exist in the same paradox as other animals like sharks—while they are well-studied, myths about them abound and are widely accepted by society, often to the detriment of the animal themselves. While I've briefly discussed the myth of fire-breathing and am planning to go into myths such as dragons being "man-eaters" and the myth about their ability to hypnotize their prey, today I'd like to talk about a less damaging dragon misconception: that dragons of the Draceous family have fur!

Previously considered to be in the family Pachysquamidae, we now know that Draceous dragons are their own separate family. One thing that makes them stand out is their manes and sensory whiskers. While the thin, closely-gathered fibers give the appearance of hair or fur, their manes actually made up of thousands of specialized feathers. These feathers most closely resemble those of Kiwis, a small flightless bird found in New Zealand, in that they lack afterfeathers/aftershafts (smaller down feathers which provide insulation to the body from the main feather shaft). Other feathered dragons, such as amphipteres, possess feathers more similar to those of other birds.

One common belief about Draceous dragon manes I can confirm, however, is that they're incredibly soft. Here's a closeup on the mane of a 12-year-old Whiskered River Dragon (Potamodraconis chinensis melavultus) I photographed at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, which has a fantastic dragon exhibit I highly recommend visiting:

Their sensory whiskers are also feathered. While on birds filoplume feathers are short—rarely measuring more than a few inches long even in the largest species—Draceous dragons have long ones running down their whiskers. These feathers are extremely sensitive and are used in much the same way cats use their whiskers or humans use their fingertips. Given the often dark aquatic habitat of many Draceous dragons, these filoplume-covered whiskers likely help guide them when visibility is low. Draceous dragons also have poor visibility close to their noses, and anything unfamiliar without a distinct scent is often investigated with rigorous whisker touching. Without filoplumes, they'd be both literally and metaphorically in the dark!

[thisisnotawendys]

I think I'm the only person who doesn't mind Vegeta's growth spurts throughout the series like...? Yeah maybe it's a little weird but Saiyan's life spans and biology are a lot different than humans, and they probably don't stop growing until 40 in some cases. Maybe that makes no sense, but him being a little taller than Bulma now doesn't bother me in the slightest. Maybe Saiyans have an evolutionary attribute where once they mate for life, their bodies adapt in any way necessarily to ensure that they can properly defend said mate? Goku has also had a significant growth spurt since marrying Chichi.

Goku's height in dragon ball

Goku's height in Super.

Vegeta's height during Namek

Vegeta now

Goku has grown WAY more than Vegeta. Leave my short king alone.

[iravaid]

Playing around with dragons and speculative biology and pterosaur evolutionary silliness :) Her name is Ambrosia and she’s just a little guy. She’s also sooo hungry and would love that sandwich in your hand, no she didn’t eat something a couple minutes ago you’re imagining things

[chimaerakitten]

So the Temeraire series doesn’t do the Pern-derived magic/telepathic bond thing, and it’s nice to have some variety on that count since the telepathy thing is pretty widespread. But there’s this passage in crucible of gold that’s like—

Wait, my thriftbooks order arrived, let me go grab the quote

Or, Temeraire thought, he might as easily have gone alone--more easily, in fact; he had to carry Forthing cupped in his talons, and it was not at all convenient to always be looking to make sure he had not dropped out; Temeraire was not aware of him in quite the same way as of Laurence.

(Emphasis mine)

And this combined with the number of times it’s mentioned that (Russians aside) aviators just don’t seem to be capable of fearing their own dragons (and not just aviators who raised the dragons from the egg—it’s the same with inherited dragons) indicates to me that there’s something really interesting psychologically/biologically going on “under the hood,” there, so to speak.

And maybe this is just me and all those anthropology classes I took in college but that actually makes a lot of sense?

The historical record in the series dates the intentional breeding of dragons to a couple thousand years in the past, in china, but there’s a lot of evidence that there’s been a looser symbiotic relationship between humans and dragons a lot longer than that. Namely the domesticated elephants and the dragons in the Americas being the same species and of the same attitudes towards humans as dragons in Eurasia. So that’s likely at least 20 thousand years of symbiosis/mutual domestication, (if we assume they migrated together, which I do because it’s the simplest explanation) and it could well be much longer than that. That’s a long ass time. Like. The spread of IRL lactase persistence took less time than this.

And much like the benefits of being able to drink milk as an adult, the benefits of mutualism with an intelligent dinosaur-sized flying predator would absolutely have selective pressure on human populations. That’s just a given. I would talk about early hominins being third-tier scavengers here and Pleistocene megafauna and the canonical prevention of malaria via dragon proximity as compared to sickle cell anemia, but nobody wants me to regurgitate my entire biological anthropology 215 class in a tumblr post. Just trust me on this one.

Basically, the entire human species in the Temeraire universe will have been under a lot of positive selective pressure to be good symbiosis buddies to the dragons, so it’s no wonder aviator attachment is so intense.

This is likewise true for the dragons. A lot can be put down to intentional breeding in the last couple thousand years, but the foundation of dragons being prosocial with humans would have to be laid before then. Humans have domesticated predators IRL, but dragons are like 2-3 orders of magnitude larger than wolves and it took a long time to get dogs. The romans wouldn’t have had any luck if the dragons weren’t already partially on board. My theory is that this would have started way back. Australopithecus times, way back, because— [Anth 215 sneaks up behind me whilst the jaws theme plays] ANYWAY there’s a few benefits I can guess at for dragons having assistance hunting from small bands of persistence predators on occasion. I also think this would have intensified post-Pleistocene as the megafauna that would have been the dragons’ main prey went extinct and eventually agriculture would be the only way to replace— [Jaws theme intensifies] JUST TRUST ME BRO.

All this to say that humans being able to very quickly lose all instinctive fear of the dinosaur-sized flying predators they spend their time around and said predators developing not only attachment to humans but particular awareness of their humans specifically so as to prevent any possible accidental harm makes a lot of sense from an evolutionary biology perspective. It’s evidence of the same mutualistic relationship biologically shaping both species across the broader time spans that the series hints at.

[wavepriisms]

short and slightly shitpost-y chimera falin biology analysis because i am not normal about dunmeshi

fair warning: i will mention dragon cock a few times (in a sfw way i'm ace + this is a biological analysis)

vv i'm using this thing a bit for this vv

this is great to use as a ref image for art. anyways, biology. there's a bulge there

this could very well be the flame sack mentioned in laios' little diagram (the first image), but the flame sack would likely not be this exposed (could be hit easily, also whatever is in there is flammable since it's used to create fire). i don't think natural selection would like that very much. so, this is most likely in fact a penis (sheathed). also the original red dragon was male so there's that too

why am i mentioning this? well you see

the same diagram mentions falin having patches of feathers specifically to incubate eggs (most likely to hatch them). this could be because her human body is female etc but also there wouldn't really be a point to that since we've established that she (probably?) doesn't have a vagina. therefore, the point:

male chimeras incubate the eggs for the females like seahorses thank you for coming to my ted talk

(yes the flame sack box in the diagram was pointing to where the bulge is in the art, but there are other boxes pointing to internal organs like the vocal cords and esophagus. it's most likely internal if you think about it from an evolutionary standpoint. also i wouldn't put it past ryokui to give chimera!falin a dick she's not afraid to draw them at all)

[heedra]

when I was a kid I was sooooo into taxonomy and evolutionary biology that it wrapped around to being a curse bc it got to the point where I'd be reading my dragonology books and getting really pissed off at the marsupial dragon

[daenerysstormreborn]

House Targaryen is cool and possibly my favorite house but not in like a “Targaryens are superior and deserve to rule and I believe in Targaryen restoration and Aegon the conquerer was a hero” kind of way but in a “haha wow this is so fucked up” kind of way. I love lore. I LOVE lore. The lore of Valyria and the doom and the mystery surrounding it is SO enticing to me. The blood magic and all the rumors surrounding the experiments that Valyrians did are so disturbing and interesting. I’m a scientist. A researcher. So the idea that Valyrians were basically mad scientists has this massive appeal to me. Plus it’s fun to think about things from the perspective of an evolutionary biologist. For the most part, animals are programmed to avoid inbreeding. Humans especially. Our feelings of repulsion at the idea of coupling with relatives evolved because it prevents this inbreeding. Valyrian inbreeding can be explained with evolutionary biology principles. Typically, inbreeding creates a fitness disadvantage. But what if, in their case, something conferred a greater advantage that outweighed the effects of inbreeding depression? Something like the ability to bond with dragons would like give Valyrians a massive fitness advantage. If some degree of inbreeding is necessary to maintain this fitness advantage, then it would make sense that the innate aversion to coupling with relatives would be lost. Did GRRM think of this? Almost certainly not. But it’s fun to think about. All the mysteries and the horrors of the ruins of Valyria (and the horrors of pre-doom Valyria) are also so delicious to me as a horror fan. This cursed horrible place inhabited by unknown creatures big enough to wound the biggest dragon known in Westeros. The rumors of demons. That cursed horn Euron brought back. It’s so interesting. The only location more interesting to me is Asshai and if GRRM dies before giving us more information about Asshai I’ll use a ouija board to force his ghost to tell me what I want to know. So much about far east Essos, Sothyros, and Ulthos is unknown and it absolutely KILLS me that the missing information just doesn’t exist anywhere because it was just made up by some guy. I want more, more, more! And the Targaryens offer a taste of this dark mystery and that is why they’re appealing to me.

And dragons are cool.