Serpent - like Dragons. They have enormous wing spans, with brightly colored scales and no forearms. They use the talons at the tip of their wings instead of the forearms like their brothers
Western Dragons
The commonly known Dragons. They have forearms and back legs, both which have a lot of strength. They are fire breathers, come in many colors, and are more aggressive than most....but not to everyone.... like maidens for instance. They are friendly for the most part, but do not cross them !!
Eastern Dragons
Found mostly in the East...China, Japan, Korea....These Dragons represent royalty and strength among the Asians. They are long and serpent - like, with bright metallic - colored scales, gold representing the highest of royalty. Most have a thick mane running along their backs instead of fins, and are known for their kindness.
Prehistory
As we know, the Age of Reptiles was filled with thousands of dragon-like reptiles, which ended approximately one hundred million years ago.
The smaller wings of the early Dragons could not allow flight, limited or otherwise, and is believed to have served merely as an attention getter, or for mating rituals. The skeletal structure of these early Dragons, however, still resemble that of the more current type of common Dragons we see today. Originally rather small, the early Dragons, or "ProtoDraco", was not much longer than five feet from nose to tail, weighing in about one hundred and fifty pounds.
The teeth were small, and geared more for eating the vegetation of that era. The wings themselves on both sexes could not be more than three feet long.
After existing for about seven million years, the ProtoDraco gave way to the more advanced MesoDraco. The wings had become longer and more functional, less like forearms - the rear legs became smaller and more muscular.
The MesoDraco had increased in size - ten feet long from nose to tail and weighing approximately seven hundred pounds. Although the wings had doubled in size, they could only fly for short distances; mainly from jumping off a small rise, but not for ground take-off.
At this time, another of the ProtoDraco ancestors had formed. The PteroDraco. This is not to be confused for the Pterodactyl, which had only one bony finger at the ends of their wings, where the PteroDraco had four. Still resembling a forearm. It was at this time it was thought the early Dragons gave up vegetation and became meat-eaters.
According to some fossil remains, the early PteroDraco measured a forty feet wingspan, weighing up to several hundred pounds!
Eventually, the MesoDraco gave way to a new kind of Dragon - the modern Dragon - known as NeoDraco. This Dragon species, even larger yet, was a totally flightless Dragon. The three species of NeoDraco were as follows:
American Flightless Dragon - NeoDraco americana
European fire-breathing Dragon - NeoDraco pyrogena
Oriental mist-breathing Dragon - NeoDraco pluvialis
All three Dragons had one thing in common - they were all vegetarians. Their diet was rich in heavy wood, vegetation and starches for quick energy. Due to the bacteria in the stomachs needed to digest such raw foods, the fermentation process produced a horrible smelling gas, which in some cases, was exhaled as a form of defense - sometimes the Dragons would gnash their teeth together while exhaling, causing sparks to fly, igniting the gases into the familiar fire-breathing form we all know.
The European Fire-breathing Dragon
Dragons have resided in Europe for thousands of years. In the Book of Job, there was a mention of a Leviathan who breathed fire, had eyes like the sun and great scales which were impervious to attack.
Eventually, the Christian movement related the peace-loving Dragons to their serpents-of-evil. This was compounded by the fact that the Dragon was said by them to have given the apple to Eve. Because of this, the Dragon has gotten a bad rap over the years. Since that has been the case, there is little unbiased and credible information on the history of the Dragon.
According to history and recent sightings, the European Dragon ranged in size, getting as large as sixty feet in length at adulthood.
The hind feet are very large and muscular used mostly for mobility. The front feet were smaller and used for grasping. Some Dragons also had wings on their forearms. These Dragons are more popularly known as Wyverns.
The snouts are long and rounded attached to a very large head. The tongue is forked. The eyes are very well equipped for seeing even in the dimmest light, as in a cave. Between the eyes there appeared to be a third eye, usually in the form of a gem. This has been a popular myth of the Dragon, that tells of its psychic and telepathic powers.
The scales tend to be very green with a yellow underbelly. Much brighter in the female of this species. The use of the wings and the ability to breath fire is the European Dragon's main form of protection.
The Oriental Mist-breathing Dragon
Oriental Dragons are not known to be fire breathers, but can, on rare occasions do so. Their main form of protection is a mist-like breath which can cause rain clouds and stinging of the skin and eyes.
Oriental Dragons, which can be found in groups of nine...considered very lucky, have a row of eighty-one scales running down the dorsal spine representing the square of a lucky number. There are nine types of Oriental Dragons, which includes an ancient Dragon seen in bronze sculptures:
The horned Dragon, the winged Dragon, the Celestial Dragon (protector of the
Gods), the spiritual Dragons (generates beneficial wind and rain), the Dragon of
hidden treasures (guards concealed wealth), the coiling Dragon (lives in water),
and the yellow Dragon (which rose from the water and presented the emperor Fu
Hsi with the elements if writing. The final Dragon is the Dragon king which
there are four represented by the four directions of the seas; north, east,
south and west.
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