Why did I choose dragons? As my friends know, I love dragons and how often do you get the chance to do a report on them? Plus I've found out that most people don't know a lot about mythological creatures. Who here doesn't know what this is? *griffin picture * This is a griffin. A strong half bird, half lion creature that is usually the good flying creature against the evil dragons in games.
I will begin with the history of dragons, since most things are reported in chronological order. There are many different theories on how dragons started. One is told of an adventurer that was going through the rain forests down in the Amazon that ran into a huge Boa Constrictor or Anaconda. Upon seeing these, the frightened frontiersman thought that they were huge elephants from Africa that sat up in trees, waiting for someone to walk by to they could snatch them up with their trunks and eat them. Through rumors these elephants turned into creatures, then these creatures grew wings, legs, etc.
Other stories are simply of misidentification. The sea serpent for instance is said to have been a giant squid or a whale. Explorers could even have ran across a dinosaur that managed to escape the Ice Age. Some of today's real living dragons are the Komodo and Water Dragons. .
Species.
Dragons are also a big part of some cultures. And each culture has it's own version of these creatures and how they were first found. Two of the biggest known types are the Western Dragon and the Chinese Dragon. The Western Dragon is thick-bodied, long-necked, and covered in scales. It has four legs, two bat-like wings, and has a wedge shaped head. This kind is usually viewed as evil or Satanic, though Vikings use them on the heads of their ships for luck and it's the Welsh national symbol.
The other popular kind, the Chinese dragon, have long, scaled, serpentine bodies with four legs with a mane and antler-like horns.