Dragons

The true apex predator of Venus, in the past, the area surrounding Cirros Mot was said to be home to some of the most dangerous creatures on all of Venus, the dragons. These large, winged reptiles were known to hunt all over Venus in the eons past, though for reasons unknown, Cirros Mot seemed to have a higher concentration of them than anywhere else on the planet.
Dragons were unique amongst the other creatures on Venus. Being largely solitary or in pairs, little is known about their behavior. This has led some sources to claim them as nothing more than mindless beasts hunting for their next meal, while other sources claim that they were as intelligent, if not more so, than any other species on Venus. Which of this is true is lost to history, if either is based on fact at all.
What we do know is that the dragons were biologically unique amongst the other creatures on Venus. While it is true that they would hunt and consume prey much like any other animal, that was not the primary source of their diet. Instead, the dragons instead feasted on the various metals that could be found in veins along the mountainsides. Silver, gold, platinum, any sort of metal that they could find would find its way into the gullet of a hungry dragon. To this day certain mountains will have gashes where it is said that a hungry dragon bit their way into a vein.
Once the planet was locked and the lands surrounding the deserts began to turn to sand, even less of these magnificent beasts were seen across the planet until fewer and fewer were seen, and then none. It is entirely possible that most of the dragons died out, whether it be from starvation, being unable to adapt, or even from hunting, as dragon hide and bone is a precious material that many noble houses of Cherut Das have prized for generations. Even if they did not all die, it is still possible that there may not be enough left or a sustainable population. While occasionally a dehydrated traveler will claim to see a massive winged shadow flying overhead, every new year increases the chances of it being a hallucination as opposed to a dragon.
Some say that the largest of the dragons left Venus entirely. They were known to live in the oceans for years at a time without surfacing and some said that they had seen them descending from the heavens in the far past. It is not without reason to think that there still may be some dragons flying through the void of space, finding rogue asteroids and surviving off of those. It is not a mistake that Earth has legends of dragons as well, after all.