#dragon evolution

Every time I just casually draw a dragon I wind up drawing roughly the same dude; snake-like body, short limbs, long snout, a frill, and usually horned nostrils and a rattle. So I decided to finally pin down a design for this slinky guy, whom I’ve just been calling “Noodle”, while simultaneously experimenting with a plausible(-ish) design for a four-legged-two-winged dragon based on Draco Lizards. Yeah, he does resemble a Rainwing, but is that really surprising? Rainwings are my favorite dragon species.

I looked at so many lizard skeletons and I still don’t feel like I did this skeletal justice, but it will have to do. I primarily referenced Draco Lizards and Komodo Dragons. I fused the vertebrae that the rib-wing bones attached to make the area more robust.

Also went with a scale pattern reminiscent of the Wings of Fire illustrations by Joy Ang because they’re fun to do and they make my life easier and no other scale pattern I tried looked good.

This is my current hypothesis, at least for how it might have happened in Sorrel's world:

Dragons would belong to the Archosaurs ("ruling reptiles") clade. This group includes crocodilians, birds and non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs and some others. I think this fits them well as they show characteristics from all these types of animals. We also have a bonus nod to some birds being very intelligent animals, as true dragons are (at least) human level intelligence also.

I think their direct ancestor was likely similar to the Drakes, which in 5e are described as smaller and lesser relatives of dragons, about as intelligent as horses, with elemental affinity and able to understand draconic (which imo goes against "horse level intelligence" since understanding a language requires Intelligence but okay). 

Reading about various dragon-like creatures and their abilities I think the dragon ancestors developed reasonably high intelligence and a basic language first, then learned to use magic before evolving into true dragons. My theory is that when they learned to tap into the Weave they basically used it to modify their own genes, allowing them an extra set of limbs, elemental affinity/abilities, growing to massive size etc. Basically unlocking a bunch of cheat codes that in turn enabled them to evolve into an apex predator. The wings probably came first and allowed them a massive survival boost as well as altering how they hunt etc, with breath weapons following as part of their hunting strategy etc.

Side effects of their evolutionary path include dragons being solitary, long-lived, slow-growing and territorial - they require a lot of resources and by necessity cannot live too close to each other. For most of their existence this wasn’t really an issue but it is now with humanoids being so present. Dragons are slow to age and procreate and there's not many of them, if hunters kill off several of them it's a noticeable blow to their population.

Psuedodragons are a very early offshoot on the dragon evolutionary tree, they have rudimentary language and wings but lack magic otherwise. Not true dragons, but closely related to them.

Faerie dragons are another early offshoot, they have language and magic, are described as closely related to psuedodragons but are arguably closer to true dragons than they are. Only as large as a cat - likely ended up on a different evolutionary path than true dragons, focusing on a much smaller size as to not compete with their much larger relatives.

This started off as me wanting to design some new Fury species, but I’m still on my draconic evolution kick so I thought I’d combine it with an exploration of how the three Fury species evolved. Yes, three. The Night Fury, the Light Fury and the Sand Wraith. As for the Woolly Howl, whilst it resembles the basic shape of a Fury, it lacks base-fins (the triangular secondary wings at the base of the tail) so I prefer to chalk the similarities up to convergent evolution.

So, I believe that these three species of dragon originally branched off from a common ancestor which in turn evolved in Asia, specifically in the Himalayan region. The ones that remained are known as Mountain Wraiths. They have the classic body shape of a Night Fury, with spikes down the head and back, base-fins and triangular/fan like tail-fins. They are coloured in various shades of brown with grey dapples, giving them great camouflage against the rocks.

Their hunting strategy consists of waiting in ambush on the peaks for prey to wander below and then dive bombing it to knock it off the cliffs and catch it. Some cultures view them as reincarnations of people that died in the mountains due to their shrieking calls, hence the ‘Wraith’ part of the name.

Their ancestors spread throughout the Himalayas and beyond. Some individuals followed the mountain chains west and then south into Pakistan etc. Those that were more sandy coloured, with paler dapples, had an advantage in camouflaging in these new desert conditions. They became semi-aquatic to avoid the heat of the desert and evolved longer, sharper spikes to defend them from dragons such as Deathgrippers or Triple Strykes.

In other words, this branch of the ancestral species evolved into Sand Wraiths.

Others travelled west and north, into Europe. There they faced competition from the numerous other dragon species. To avoid competing directly with their new neighbours, they shifted from being crepuscular (that is, mostly active at dawn and dusk) to being nocturnal. The darker, more melanistic ones were better camouflaged in the darkness, allowing them to take advantage of the abundant seafood when fish swim to the surface to feed every night.

Needless to say, this branch of the ancestral species evolved into Night Furies.

As for Light Furies… let’s pretend, for the sake of argument, that they don’t look that way just because Dreamworks wanted them to look pretty and girly. They can interbreed with NFs, so we can infer they branched off from that species rather than being another offshoot of the ancestral Mountain Wraiths.

So, as Night Furies travelled or were pushed further north, into the arctic, their black coloration would’ve been good camouflage during polar nights but not much good during month long polar days. Perhaps not all NFs were/are jet black, and the paler individuals were more likely to survive in the arctic. Or perhaps a mutation led to some NFs being leucistic. Maybe a mix of both.

(Here’s where we diverge a little from the canon LF design.) Apart from having fewer and shorter auricles to reduce heat loss, this new species also evolved large paws with sharp claws for better traction on snow and ice. They also evolved to be more streamlined in water since the arctic is mostly a marine environment and most of their food sources would also be marine animals.

Commonly thought to be reptiles, dragons are actually descended from a genetic mix of horse and eagle.

Most terrestrial creatures in the world are tetrapods, evolved from a four-limbed fish that made its way onto land. Humans, horses, birds, and lizards all came from this ancestor. Thus, you could only expect terrestrial and airborne vertebrates to have four, not six limbs. But dragons have four legs and two wings. Now you might say “wait a second, what about the legends of wing-arm dragons?”

You’re thinking of wyverns, the extinct reptile-descended predators.

True dragons, the ones we have today, actually get their start as herbivores.

The first pegasus were a flock of horses enchanted with eagle wings by forces not yet understood.

These early pegasus were not able to fly, as they weighed far too much for their small wings. However, the wings did provide some manner of lift when climbing steep mountains, so the herd thrived and propagated into a pegasus similar to modern species.

Discarding their ruminant digestive system in favor of something more lightweight, these pegasus ate seeds, nuts and fruits. They’re much more aerodynamic than their predecessors, but must remain small as their diet does not provide enough calories to power a large body.

Though they were largely herbivorous, some groups experimented with omnivore diets. And one, finding that to be lacking, went full carnivore.

Called Xanthus by paleontologists, these carnivorous pegasus reverted many of their genes to pre-horse ancestors, splitting their hooves, sharpening their teeth, and turning much of their plumage into primitive quills. A truly terrifying creature, the xanthus was driven to extinction by its own apatite, and the descendants that out-competed it.

True dragons have reworked their hooves back into claws, and shed their flight feathers in favor of a membrane similar mythical pterosaurs. While the free finger of their bird wing was able to revert to a claw, the rest of their wing bones were too far removed from walking limbs to spread out into fingers, hence the dragons’ unique silhouette when compared to wyverns.

The similarities between modern dragons (left) and ancient wyverns (right) are an example of convergent evolution, much like flying fish and butterfly wings are closely related shapes with completely different evolutionary paths.

Speaking of evolutionary paths, there are many new entries of creatures descended from dragons.

The basilisk is one of a few hexapods to return to terrestrial life. Their wings descended into forelimbs that they use to grasp prey while running or climbing through tunnels.

All other humanoid races can be descendants of the same Darwinian theory of a particular primate species, the differences between which are due to different conditions of evolution.

Quirks weren't the cause, they were just the catalyst. Dragons began to change in the 15th century, when they began to integrate into the society of other races. In the future, we will be able to meet in my fanfiction and in the form of drawings of griffins and other creatures known in fantasy, although perhaps slightly modified.)

Smaugust day 6 - Lore

when it comes to why a Deity chose a specific animal, it's usually because they were particularly fascinated by them. Drakken actually originally found himself enamoured by fish, and then discovered dromaeosaurs and fell in love with their cunning and adaptability. the traits they then give these creatures is usually either out of just curiosity ("what would happen if i gave this nervous herbivore wings?") or because they believe it would help the animal become more successful (i.e. dragonfire). it should be noted that transition period when a deity shifts focus is a weird one, and if they choose to change their form to that of their new interest, it's.....going to take some practice. like drawing a deer when youve drawn dogs all your life, and you are a tardigrade