so sleepy the dwagon

What, never seen a whole dragon before in your life?

Dragon Work

1: The dragon is absolutely horrified as the mint engulfs and takes over its den. Its gold? Mint. Its gems and goblets? Mint. Its stores of wine? Mint. No matter what they do they can’t get rid of it.

#11 - 火龍果 (dragon fruit)- I don't see a dragon here, do you? 🐲🍓🌟

Bonus:

cause as much as i love dragons purring and roaring i wish there was just more variety in how they would act

clacking their teeth together to show contentedness/happiness (budgies)

using tails as a defensive weapon in a whip like fashion (iguana)

twitching to express that they're not a threat to members of their species (hognose snake)

feeling calm when eyes are hooded/covered (birds of prey)

head bobbing as a threat display (anoles/bearded dragons)

flattening neck or sides to appear bigger (snakes/lizards)

mantling over food to protect it from hatchmates (birds of prey)

wiggling neck as a courting maneuver (budgies)

audibly grinding teeth as a warning (macaques)

maintained eye contact as a challenge (gorillas)

pounding wings against sides as a threat (gorillas)

slapping other dragons with their claws when their personal bubble is invaded (seals)

hoards used as a site to impress mates (birds of paradise)

snorting when undergoing heightened stress (horses)

making repeated loud noises with surroundings to establish territory (woodpeckers)

loud constant arguments with other dragons when roosting (bats)

building lairs that cause a domino effect of change in the land around them (beavers)

slapping their tails against the ground/water as a warning (beavers)

plucking or scraping off scales as a sign of stress (parrots)

raising spines/frills as a response to danger and carrying on with their usual business as they believe they're protected (lionfish)

alternative, non-mammalian noises to purring and roaring that you can use for draconic characters:

american alligator bellowing [1] [2] [3]. male alligators use this as a mating display and territory call so the usage for dragons is easy to guess. this would work especially well for aquatic or semi-aquatic dragons (watch the water around those gators and see how it vibrates - that's part of what the sound is for, as other gators are probably gonna feel the vibrations better than they'll hear the sound), but i think it would be fun to see in any kind of dragon! alligator behavior is so fascinating and it is woefully underutilized in fantasy reptilians!

dove cooing [1] [2] [3]. tbh i think this would make a fantastic replacement for purring if you wanted to eschew the use of purring entirely, especially if the dragons you're using are more bird-like or feathery. it's very similar in feel to purring and with a large enough dragon you'd still get those big rumbles and vibrations, but it's distinctly less mammalian!

on the topic of doves, special shout out to dove laughter [1] [2] [3], which i think would work particularly well for smaller dragon species, and mourning dove calls [1] [2] [3], which i do not have a specific use case in mind for but wanted to mention because they just sound. so cool. and i don't think i've ever seen a fantasy species use sounds like that.

Edit Aug. 13th ‘23: Updating original post with all the existing colours! To see the latest, check out the free stuff page on my Neocities :3