OK, so Iâve actually thought about this.
The first thing you have to understand is that to some extent, PokĂŠmon evolve âbackwards.â
Think about this. Evolution on our world is a process taking place over thousands and millions of generations, where a species develops traits that increases its chances to produce offspring and keep the species going.
Now sometimes those adaptations will lead to new limbs, sensory organs, or other cool âupgrades,â but we tend to see those kinds of changes emerge more in prehistoric times when the genetic arms race isnât as far along as we see today.
What we tend to observe more in modern times are adaptations where the species consolidates features or reduces size, conserving the resources necessary to support the species.
For example, the skeletal structure of snakes indicate that their ancestors used to have limbs. But because they are no longer advantageous for the species, the limbs were lost along the way.
Iâd be willing to wager that Dratini is better adapted to survive in the modern world than Dragonaire is. And Dragonaire is probably better adapted for modern life than Dragonite.
AND there is actually some evidence to support this.
Consider the original PokĂŠdex entry for Magikarp:
âIn the distant past, it was somewhat stronger than the horribly weak descendants that exist today.â
In other words, Magikarp doesnât really evolve into Gyrados. Magikarp is the distant evolutionary DESCENDANT of Gyrados. Believe it or not, Magikarp is the version best equipped to propagate the species in todayâs world. (Perhaps because it can handle polluted water so well.)
OK, so if Gyrados spent thousands of generations evolving into Magikarp, then why does the game have Magikarp magically transform back into Gyrados?
Hereâs where things get interesting. Remember those limbs that the snakeâs ancestors had? Well modern snakes STILL HAVE THE GENES FOR GROWING THOSE LIMBS. But you donât see snakes with legs because those genes now lie dormant while more dominant genes run the show. But the necessary genetics for those prehistoric traits are still there.
Now this is where PokĂŠmon start to differ from animals in our world, but stick with me.
Imagine you have an animal that is best suited to thrive in the wild, but its genetics are⌠less stable than the animals here. When these animals are subjected to extreme stress (from, say, being captured and forced to battle other animals) the genes in their bodies react to those stressors by activating those dormant prehistoric genes.
OK, so now letâs (finally) get back to the Dratini line, assuming that Dragonite actually came along first in this evolutionary family tree.
Drastic changes in Dragoniteâs environments (perhaps the extinction of a food source or loss of habitat) steered its evolution towards a future as an aquatic species known as Dragonaire.
Instead of the orange skin that was so good for sunning itself on rocks and cliff sides, it developed blue skin better suited for blending in underwater.
Itâs limbs were cumbersome when swimming, and its antennae were useless underwater, so both had to go.
Its wings didnât entirely disappear, but they did change to adapt to life underwater. They became fins that looked more like ears than the wings they used to be.
With a drastically different diet, it became smaller to conserve calories. It became slender to use less energy when swimming.
All of these changes became even more pronounced as Dragonaire evolved over the generations into Dratini.
So there you have it. My theory on PokĂŠmon âevolution,â and my take on how the Dratini line actually makes quite a lot of sense within that context.