Other than the plated scales, tough leathery skin, frilled head, horned skull anatomy and sinuous tail, mythological and folkloric dragons have very little in common anatomically with actual reptiles. They have MORE in common with the Felidae genus (cat family) and the Aves Phylum Chordata (bird classification).
Like a cat’s eye, a dragon’s eye has a comparatively large iris with a vertical pupil. This arrangement allows the pupil to open extremely wide and receive more light than that of a human eye.
A dragon’s legs are also decidedly nonreptilian, despite the scaly coverings. A dragon’s legs are positioned more or less directly under its body, in the manner of mammals. (Most reptiles’ legs tend to splay out to the sides, offering much less support and mobility than a mammal).
Lasly, a dragon’s four feet very closely resemble those of a great bird. Each foot has three or four clawed toes facing forward (the number varies, even among dragons of the same kind), plus an additional toe, also with a claw, set farther back on the foot and facing slightly inward toward the dragon’s body, like a human’s thumb.
A dragon’s resemblance to a reptile is literally only skin deep So the next time someone you know refers to mythical dragons as giant lizards, you’ll have the know-what to save a life.
So I have issues with this post, and mostly have been ignoring it, but it’s appeared on my dash enough for me to want to address it. Surprisingly enough, most of my issues aren’t because this post seems anti-Reptilian Dragon, but rather that the information you’re using to support this belief is inaccurate.
First some nitpicking. Felidae isn’t a Genus, and Aves isn’t a phylum. Already we’re off to a bad start.
So you first say that dragons, like cats, have slit pupils. Not wrong, but not right either. Here are some other things with slit pupils:
And here are some things without slit pupils:
Despite what people seem to believe, only small cats have slit pupils. Slit pupils are a small cat trait, not a cat in general trait.
Next you mention how dragon legs are positioned under their body, like those of a mammal rather than a reptile. Except there have been reptiles with legs positioned under their bodies. Dinosaurs are one, and some extinct crocodile relatives are another.
Now, this would be the point where you tell me that dinosaurs aren’t reptiles, instead being related to birds, and this would be the point where I tell you that you’re both right and wrong, because reptiles don’t actually exist.
As far as actual phylogeny is concerned “reptile” is more or less meaningless. It doesn’t actually define how things are related to each other. Crocodiles, a reptile, are more closely related to birds than they are to snakes and lizards. So there’s two possible solutions to the reptile dilemna:
1) Make is a synonym for all Sauropsids, in which case Dinosaurs, including birds are reptiles or
2) Have it be a vulgar, nontechnical term for creatures which posses any number of arbitrary characteristics, including scales, certain physiological and anatomical features, and which often lay eggs. In which case, a dragon bearing a superficial resemblance to a reptile would be enough to make it a reptile, since ‘Reptile’ is essentially meaningless.
It’s also important to note that actual reptiles can have very little in common in terms of anatomy, past some bare bones aspects. Crocodilians have internal anatomy closer to birds than other reptiles, and even monitor lizards have a very complex respiratory system. Even the whole Warm vs Cold Blooded thing isn’t accurate, since real animals usually have much more complicated systems for maintaining body heat than that dichotomy.
You also mention how dragon feet are closer to bird feet. I would argue that, since dragons are usually shown with pronated hands, they can’t be related to birds, since no dinosaurs had pronated hands. I would also suggest you take a closer look at some reptile hands, they can be quite interesting.
And finally, my biggest issue. Dragons are not homogeneous in design, anatomy, or style. The kind you show are the most recent D&D designs, which yes, you could argue they take more inspiration from dinosaurs, felines, and avians than modern reptiles, but that is only one style, from one work. In terms of design, there’s no such thing as “mythological and folkloric dragons.” In Ancient Greece alone, we had giant snakes, giants essentially made out of snakes, and a three headed hound covered in snakes. France has a dragon that’s a snail. China has a dragon that’s a fish. The Grootslang is part elephant. Dragons, even when they aren’t reptilian, are wildly more diverse than just being cat-birds.
TL;DR: If you want bird/feline dragons that’s fine, but this post uses false information to support its point.
esports is so powerful they will agree to use a sponsored player’s fursona in place of the actual player’s photo for promotional material
a lot of people are reblogging this and making fun of sonicfox but he’s one of the youngest most successful fighting game players alive like he’s earned over $300,000 through tournament winnings and he was instilling fear into adult competitors as early as 13 years old just by sitting next to them and pluggin his controller in like the kid’s a god
I can also say he’s one of the best people to ever commission me ever. Payed me extra, checked on me periodically not for art progress but because he saw I was going through some stuff and gave me tips on my FANG in SFV. Dude’s an angel and a friend
Call me when he makes top 3 in a real game lmfao
S C O R C H E D
I’d like you to know that Sonicfox is currently the number one ranked player in both Mortal Kombat X and Injustice: Gods Among Us, not to mention he is the second most ranked player in Skullgirls.
So yeah, HE’S MADE IT INTO THE TOP 3 ALRIGHT
The God of Videogames is a fucking furry and I’m SO DAMN PROUD.
I would also like to note that he looks like this
And before you ask, no. The hat was not a one time thing.
He wears it in pretty almost every match he plays. And to my memory, he has only took it off ONCE during a match.
His hat is the equivalent of to Jason Voorhees’s mask. Because you know you’re FUCKED when he takes it off
Imagine this guy popping off and screaming GET YIFFED BITCH at the enemy
The dream starts off (as far as I can remember) with Mae as if I’m playing Night In The Woods. Some dogboy challenges Mae to a fight in “DA PIT” and after discussing it with her mother decides to go. When she finally gets to the location her “theme song” plays whic h is a vocal song. I pause the game to google the ost and savge the song. But I’m in a public library. The guy next to me laughs at me for downloading mp3s. He says something as if to try to goad me into fighting him but instead I bring up an altnerative topic and we become friends. I leave the library to be confronted by these medieval gates. Sam and Frodo are there and supposedly I’m this bad ass ranger that is helping them on their quest. We walk past the gates we’re confronted with a single black knight and then another one behind us. Before we even get a chance to fight, the knights reveal that there’s an army on each side of them. It was a trap. We have no choice but to surrender. We’re captured and we see a series of bounties being checked suggesting that the black knights were not working for Sauron but were instead mercenaries working for the highest bidder. Within the jail we’re with a bunch of lizardmen/women and the facility is being guarded by these dragonmen and snake ladies. Instead of using Frodo’s ring I bring out a stealth cloak much like the one in Harry Potter and suggests to a prisoner that I never use my real name. ( I forget why I think it had to do with me aavoiding ruining my reputation as a thief or something?)
I sneak out the prison cloaked and search for a way to free everyone. There’s three Snakeladies slitthering down the hall way. Being the disgusting furfaggot I am I decide to take the opportunity to go down on her while the other 2 are away. She doesn’t see me but is happy with the attention she’s getting nonetheless. Afterwards I find the switch to unlock the cages which prompts the lizardmen to rebel. The men eventually win and side with the dragons and the snakes. There’s a big feast and one of the generals wants to pay me for my service by granting me service. From out the back room there’s a few men holding down a kobold and hold it’s mouth open suggesting they’re going to force the Kobold to suck me off. This pisses the females off soo much that everyone starts fighting again. This time I leave them to their battle and ride on horseback with the same freed Kobold searching for a way back home when a band of men on horses chase us into the forest. We assume they are hostile band avoid them but learn that they were actually directing us towards this party in the forest being hosted by this horse anthro who looks a bit like Celestia. And that’s all I remember.
