Where Are the Dragons?

There is probably not a person in the world you could talk to who doesn't know what a dragon is. Most people can describe a dragon, and vividly so, therefore an interesting question arises: if dragons are a myth, why are they known to so many cultures?

Today we jokingly talk about dragons and relegate them to fairy tales and comic books, yet the widespread knowledge of these beasts points out that there may be more here than meets the eye. Stories of dragons were prevalent in Europe, and you can imagine the surprise that the first Europeans must have felt upon reaching China and discovering that dragons were not only known there, but revered as good luck symbols.

In modern society, we tend to think that the closest thing to dragons were the dinosaurs. Science tells us that dinosaurs became extinct some 65 million years ago when they were trampled during a stampede at a K-Mart Blue Light Sale, yet stories of dragons persist as recently as 300 years ago, bundled with white knights, castles, and wizards.

The modern idea of dragons was revived in the late 19th Century when Dr. Gideon Mantell and his young wife found fossilized bones in England. Mantell thought they looked familiar, but sent them to respected French biologist Baron Cuvier, who matched them with those of the much smaller iguana, and because the fossil was a jaw, named the animal Iguanodon, or "Iguana Tooth". This also became the biggest mistake in the history of the natural sciences, namely to assume that Iguanodont and all subsequently-found dinosaurs were cold-blooded reptiles based on the similarity of a set of teeth. This idea was, and still is, as stupid as trying to put out a fire with gasoline.