Island Dwarfing

Corva · **Joined:** Tue Jul 18, 2006 3:05 pm **Posts:** 1657

If dragons are still alive then they will probably be too small to ride because of Island dwarfing.

Note: I merged the two Island Dwarfing threads seeing the former one had some movement to it and the new one is starting out nicely.VH42

wut2say · **Posted:** Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:01 pm

would you like to go into a morei ndepth explanation on that for those who have no idea what you just said?

Corva · **Joined:** Tue Jul 18, 2006 3:05 pm **Posts:** 1657

Island Dwarfing is when a large species gets trapped on an island and get evolve smaller because there is less food. Dragons would have probably been forced onto remote Islands by humans. On those islands they would have downsized.

Blue Tiger · **Joined:** Sun Feb 18, 2007 6:16 am **Posts:** 443

Oh, now I understand, but dragons could easily fly back to the main land... if you are talkin about flying dragons, which i suppose you are as you said "to ride". Yeah, they wouldnt stay on an island...

Blue Tiger · **Joined:** Sun Feb 18, 2007 6:16 am **Posts:** 443

Oh, now I understand, but dragons could easily fly back to the main land... if you are talkin about flying dragons, which i suppose you are as you said "to ride". Yeah, they wouldnt stay on an island...

Corva · **Joined:** Tue Jul 18, 2006 3:05 pm **Posts:** 1657

If they flew back to the mainland they would be killed.

vampirehunter42 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:38 pm

The idea is sound. But I see them as more of an semi-aquatic creature. Like the iguanas on the GalÃ¡pagos islands. They live on the land but dive into the water to eat. Which will explain the less flying, being their wings would become less useful in the air. And would work for line the penguinâ€™s wings assisting with swimming.

But still I feel like they would be 3 to 4 meters long. But that is the size I expect they will all be.

Lillea · **Posted:** Sat Aug 18, 2007 9:14 am

i agree... they would be tiny if they really existed today. To adapt they would have to evolve to become smaller. But who knows? If someone saw an actual dragon it would be immediately be dismissed by our minds, thinking we mistook a bird or such, because we know dragons as a myth. Only those with a incredibly flexible mind could see a dragon.

werewolves · **Posted:** Sat Sep 01, 2007 1:22 am

if dragons got smaller and evolved in diffrent ways those flying ants we see all the time could be dragons for all we know :roll:

Silentiea · **Posted:** Sat Sep 01, 2007 1:36 am

I'm not entirely sure where I stand on this one. I think I stand very far away from New York, though. Very far indeed.

Airis_the_Great · **Posted:** Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:51 pm

Dragons are able to conceal themselves up in the mountains, there, they can grow

Silentiea · **Posted:** Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:45 am

Mayhap so, mayhap... not so. Perhaps time will tell. Perhaps it will not. Maybe, time will kill us all dead before it tells whatever we left after ourselves. Who knows, save the known?

Corva · **Joined:** Tue Jul 18, 2006 3:05 pm **Posts:** 1657

Wikipedia article here

This would seem to suggest the possibility of Dwarf Dragons, which could have shrunk due to either hunting or lack of food. How far could they have shrunk? To the size of birds, perhaps, looking like the fire lizards of Pern?

Alternatively, they could be the original form of the Dragons, with the bigger ones evolving later. It is doubtful that there would be much sapience there, perhaps as much as a dogs.

Blue Tiger · **Joined:** Sun Feb 18, 2007 6:16 am **Posts:** 443

Hmm, interesting. Well, it depends on how evolution saw the dragons size as an advantage. If they were really big, surely that could insure their survival as top predators? But then, evolution may have chosen a smaller size as better suited to the environment. Smaller size may mean quicker. Im not exactly sure what environmental factor would make it better for them to be small...but.
The size of the dragonets in Pern would probably be more practical, but remember the fire breath. That would have been more effective coming from a larger creature.

vampirehunter42 · **Posted:** Mon May 04, 2009 5:24 pm

Sounds logical, but I still don't think they would be that large anyway. The dog size sounds right. Maybe they have a bite like the Kimoto dragon. And the pray only needs a single bite and then dies due to infection. Or the smaller dragon could be pack hunters like lions.

I am going to try something neat. And add this thread to the last one like it. Yay, it worked.

Corva · **Joined:** Tue Jul 18, 2006 3:05 pm **Posts:** 1657

On an Island, it would be an advantage to be smaller. There's less prey, so a smaller dragon requiring less food has the advantage. Bigger ones would die out, and smaller would be selected for.

Of course, Dragons could have started out Fire-lizard size to start with, then grown bigger over time.

Firebreath would still be effective at that small size. There's a beetle that has a similar effect, and it's much smaller than a Fire-lizard would be. Spitting Cobras exist, as well.

Island Dwarfing

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