Sure thing 'Star,
One non-existent dragon sword heading your way...
Seriously, though, there are a couple of ways to look at this, in no particular order.
1. There are no living dragons of any size (yes, there are lizards, fish, etc. that are "dragons," but nothing bigger than human). Since I'm one of the "enemy" (a PhD biologist), I'll point you to a little book called Why Big Fierce Animals are Rare. Basically, large carnivores need huge amounts of food, which means they need large home ranges to support that food, which means that they tend to be rare. We currently live in a world that has trouble supporting grizzly bears on land and whales in the water, because humans are consuming such a huge chunk of the available productivity on this planet. A creature such as a dragon (let alone a hypothetical fire-breathing dragon, which requires even more energy for the flames) would have a heck of a time a) surviving, and b) staying hidden while surviving. This is one of the biggest arguments against the existence of things such as the Loch Ness monster: Loch Ness has enough food to support maybe 1 or 2 dragon-sized carnivores. Unless said carnivores are immortal (unlikely), a population of monsters could not maintain itself in that lake.
2. People like telling tall tales, and dragons make a great story, especially for telling to an anthropologist or folklorist who thinks he's far superior to the person telling the story, and most especially if you're getting paid to tell the story...
3. Fossils do turn up. Back before humans were around, there were enormous predators, such as Tyrannosaurus. As I said in my previous post, there are a few archeologists who have been having fun trying to track down references to fossils in old myths and artwork, with some success.
4. For those who believe in kundalini and acupuncture meridians: the chi (prana, etc) energy is often symbolized as a snake, for instance in the doctor's symbol of a snake twined seven times around a rod. Some groups say that the earth has acupuncture lines as well, and these may be symbolized as giant snakes, aka dragons. This is probably New Agey, but it presents a different take on those stories of dragon-slayers, and it puts a different slant on feng shui.
5. Finally, there are natural phenomena such as rivers, earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes. In places like China, these phenomena (especially storms and rivers) often are said to have dragon spirits, and no wonder. They periodically tear up the landscape and kill people. If you think of a dragon as a warning symbol (i.e. be careful or die horribly), it makes a lot of sense. We could use it today.
That by no means covers possible origins for dragons. Basically, I don'tthink those who believe in dragons are stupid, but I also don't think they are dull realists either. Why assume that the people who wrote "here be dragons" were describing real animals? They were just as good at making things up as we are.
Fearn
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