• Question: Is it likely that some time in history a six limbed creature such as a dragon lived?or is it just a myth?

    Asked by jjcandy to David, Luna, Mark, Melanie, Probash on 21 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: David Pyle

      David Pyle answered on 20 Mar 2011:

      It’s a myth! From what we can see in the fossil record, the body plan from which most walking vertebrates derived (including mammals, amphibians, birds and reptiles) are share the common feature of a backbone and four limbs..

    • Photo: Melanie Stefan

      Melanie Stefan answered on 21 Mar 2011:

      Dragon myths come – at least in part – from real animals that look a bit like dragons, like some reptiles.

      For instance, in the Czech town of Brno, there is a legend of a fierce dragon that wrecked havoc until it was killed by a rather clever young hero. The dragon has been stuffed and mounted and is still on display in front of the town hall – it’s actually a crocodile!

      In Asia, it is thought that Komodo dragons (a sort of giant, foul-smelling lizard) are at the origin of the dragon myth. They are really cool creatures, it’s worthwhile reading up of them (there’s an account of them in Douglas Adam’s “Last chance to see”)

    • Photo: Luna Munoz

      Luna Munoz answered on 21 Mar 2011:

      It doesn’t seem likely. We don’t have a fossil record of every animal that has ever existed, but it’s probably a myth.

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