2007-08-22 23:38:59 · 15 answers · asked by nelthompho 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
dragons are the stuff of fiction and even there were a real one am sure it wont have breathed fire.
but there is an interesting fact behind the fire-breathing dragon, and the fire breathing aspect of dragons may be based on that fact.
in indonesia, there is an animal called Komodo dragon, on which the the myth may be loosely based.
these real dragons, named so because they look very much like the mythical dragons, seem to breathe fire. not literally, but figurately.
their saliva is so toxic that if it takes a small nibble out of you, most likely you will die within a week due to severe infection, if you dont get medical attention immediately.
this is so because the dragon almost always eats rotten meat, and the meat particles in its teeth make its saliva very toxic.
the dragon uses its bite very cleverly, hiding in the bushes and ambushing prey like deer, cattle, buffalo etc. the size of the prey does not matter, because all it needs to do is take one bite, and the rest is done by the toxic saliva.
once the prey is bitten, the saliva starts acting very quickly and the bacteria start invading the prey immediately and the animal soon becomes immobile and sick as if it had been poisoned.
all the dragon has to do now is stalk its already bitten prey whereever it goes, and within a week its dead and the dragon feasts on its carcus.
research shows that since the ancient people dint understand the toxic effect of the saliva, they might have thought that the dragon was breathing fire and caused the death of its prey.
so this may have given way to the legend of the fire breathing dragon.
2007-08-23 02:01:30 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Everything is open to the interpretation of the author. Dragons could have been large lizards, but it would be easy for an author to see a large lizard and then write that his breath was so hot it was like fire. Over the years it could have been reinterpreted over and over again until a legend formed around it. So there may have been a fire breathing serpent, or history may have just been muddled along the way.
2016-05-20 22:38:11 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It all starts when the dragon catch their prey. When dragons eat, they digest the food in a regular stomach. The digestion then continues in a second stomach that breaks down the food even further. After the dragon's body has used all it can from the second digestion, the body then turns the leftover food and acid into a byproduct of hydrogen. The dragon can hold the hydrogen in various large glands in it's body for later use, and can call upon it at any time it needs to. When the dragon needs to belch it's flame, the glands release the hydrogen into the lungs where it mixes with other various chemicals the body creates. Once this mixture finds oxygen, it burns extremely hot, and very quick. The dragon usually has enough hydrogen in its body for about three spits of flame, but that should be plenty for anything coming up against a large red dragon. This explanation is about the same for dragons that breath other types of breath. Their bodies just break down food into different compounds.
2007-08-22 23:46:56 · answer #3 · answered by Chris T 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋
dragons never existed. they are imaginated creatures, with fanstastic abilities.
OK, speaking of similarities, in the central European region the stories of invading "dragon" were based on the German experience of the Czech Husites movement - the Czech pre-protestants set up several raids against the surrounding German territories, mainly in Bavaria. Thus in Bayern coutries legends of a roaming dragon speak actually of a storiming troop of hussites.
This means, all the buzz about the fire breathing and eating young maidens is the poetic hyperbole speaking of raping and plundering the land..
Hydrogen... hydrogen doe not burn it blasts, gentlemen.
2007-08-23 01:01:23 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dragons do exist you silly people just because the world hasn't been able to find them doesn't mean they aren't there, as for thier fire breathing, depending on the type it varies. some eat limestome to react with chemicals, others have two glands at the back of their throats which mix the chemicals together to produce flame when Hyrdogen is included...
2007-08-23 06:08:52 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Dragons never relly existed, so there are many explanations for how they can breathe fire. I do not have time to tell about them all. Just remember that it is all fantasy.
2007-08-23 03:25:40 · answer #6 · answered by miyuki & kyojin 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dragons aren't real but if you really want to know watch the flight of dragons, it explains it in that, now lets see if i can remember, they eat lime stone which reacts in their stomach causing flammable gas and they have a electric thing in their mouth(like what an eel has) they breath the gas and ignite it with the leccy thing hence, breathing fire!!!
2007-08-22 23:58:42 · answer #7 · answered by Ste B 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Dragons are made up mythical animals, not real. Besides, it does not breath fire. It expels fire when it has to. Like a serpent that spits venom.
Sorry to burst your little bubble.
2007-08-23 01:12:24 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No dragons breathe fire...its just hot beath lol
2007-08-25 07:47:52 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dude, i'm sorry, but dragons aren't real. Put your specs on, its probably a dog with a flamethrower.
2007-08-24 02:16:33 · answer #10 · answered by Captain Scarlett 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋