Species: Dragon

A dragon is a large, serpentine legendary creature that appears in the folklore and history of many cultures around the world of Nomdar. Commonly found and bred in Redmonia, Dragons live both tame and wild, bred for government and military use, as well as thriving in the wild and mountains of the kingdom. Though there are many different types, The most common type of dragon is a winged, horned, four-legged creature, capable of breathing fire.

Basic Information

Growth Rate & Stages

There are four stages of a dragons life: Hatchling, Youngster, Adolescent, and Adult. Newly hatched dragons are about the size of a small cat. But they grow very rapidly, reaching the size of a dog in about one year, and the size of a horse in only three or four years.
When dragons hatch, they do have horns around their faces and along their spines, but they are still quite small and relatively rounded. Their horns grow increasingly longer and sharper as they mature, quickly making the dragon appear more dangerous and menacing to prey or other dragons. The four lines of webbed frills along a dragon's spine only grow to a prominent size after they are about a year old. The bigger the dragon is, the bigger its appetite. When a dragon reaches adolescence, roughly when they are the size of a horse, they tend to be rebellious to a degree, much like how human teenagers are, even snarling at their imprinted parent. However, as they mature, this trait disappears.
When fully grown a dragons fire can travel up to 45 feet.

Ecology and Habitats

Dragons usually reside in dank caves, deep pools, wild mountain reaches, sea bottoms, and huge forests, all places which would have been fraught with danger for early human ancestors. Dragons could really live anywhere they wanted, as long as they have a large flying ground and sufficient food source.
While it is known that dragons do grow larger than any other creature, being raised in confinement can stunt their growth rate drastically. For example, a dragon that grew up chained like an animal, with just enough meat to keep it alive, and maybe with little to no room to fly or stretch their wings, would grow significantly smaller than a dragon that grew up being able to fly however and where ever it would like, with more than enough food to eat and thrive. Also, it is said that the spirit of the dragon plays a part in their growth. A Redmonian saying, the dragon with the strong spirit grows to be strong.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Dragons are carnivorous animals. Their dentition, composed exclusively of long and sharp canines, leave little doubt on the matter. They eat most types of meat (sheep, goats, horses and of course humans) but only if it's cooked.

Additional Information

Domestication

Dragons cannot be truly "tamed", but they can be bonded with and trained. Dragons are fairly intelligent animals, and like a horse or a dog, they can be trained by their rider to respond to basic voice commands. Dragons are smart creatures, much more so than most people and will quickly recognize friend from foe. If they are not trained they will quickly lay waste to anything around them. The key to training dragons is making sure they are well-fed, a dragon with a full stomach is more obedient. Since they cannot be truly tamed, dragons can be very dangerous even to their riders. However, they can form very strong bonds with their riders and will show affection and trust towards them. They will even nuzzle their riders, hoping to be petted.

Scientific Name

Draconem

Lifespan

1200 Human Years

Average Height

Average height for a dragon ranges between 60-65 feet tall, and the biggest dragons can grow up to 80 feet.

Average Weight

In truth, the weight of a dragon can range anywhere from 1.5 tons, or 3000 pounds to 875,000 pounds. It simply just depends on the dragon itself and the living conditions in which it was raised.

Average Length

231 feet, and 10 inches, with a wingspan of just over 211 feet.