Mythical creatures: dragons

Inspired by nature

People have told stories about dragons for thousands of years, but what inspired the tales of these remarkable creatures?

Step into our gallery of mythical beasts, and discover their tangled connections with the natural world.

'Probably the most famous of all magical beasts, dragons are among the most difficult to hide. The female is generally larger and more aggressive than the male, though neither should be approached by any but highly skilled and trained wizards. Dragon hide, blood, heart, liver and horn all have highly magical properties, but dragon eggs are defined as Class A Non-Tradeable Goods. There are ten breeds of dragon, though these have been known to interbreed on occasion, producing rare hybrids.'
– Newt Scamander, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them™

Olivia Lomenech Gill produced the artwork for an illustrated edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them™.

Where possible, Lomenech Gill based the beasts on real animals, using museum collections as inspiration. This included a visit to the Natural History Museum in London.

While she used lizards as a reference for dragons, Lomenech Gill was also influenced by another iconic dragon: Smaug of J R R Tolkien's The Hobbit.

In the Harry Potter™ film series, a dragon skeleton is seen hanging from the ceiling of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom at Hogwarts™.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Its skull has spines, spikes and sharp teeth, which are typical features of many of the dragon breeds that appear in the wizarding world created by J K Rowling.

Dragons also sit alongside real animals such as lions and zebras in this encyclopaedia of the world's animals, Theatrum Universale Omnium Animalium, by Johannes Jonstonus.

Originally published in the 1650s, it shows several varieties of dragon from across the globe. Some slither on their bellies like snakes, while others have legs, wings and horns.

The legend of the lindwurm

In 1335 a skull like this one was found near the city of Klagenfurt, Austria. People had never seen anything like it before. They thought it came from a two-legged flying dragon, known as the Lindwurm, which was rumoured to have terrorised locals.

Scientists later found that the skull belonged to a long-extinct woolly rhinoceros. Woolly rhinoceroses lived in Europe and Asia from 500,000 to 14,000 years ago, during the Ice Age.

Giant snakes

Indian rock pythons can grow up to 6.7 metres (22 feet) long. Perhaps they might have inspired tales of the snake-like dragons of India described by Roman author Pliny the Elder 2,000 years ago.

Pliny writes of these dragons crushing elephants to death. While no snake has ever been documented taking down an animal that big, Indian rock pythons can constrict and kill prey as large as antelope.

'The dragon is of so enormous a size, as easily to envelop the elephants with its folds and encircle them in its coils. The contest is equally fatal to both.'
– Pliny the Elder, 77 CE

Chinese dragon

Could this little alligator have inspired stories of great Chinese dragons? Ancient texts describe Chinese dragons digging burrows, breathing out rain clouds and sleeping in pools during winter.

Similarly, Chinese alligators hibernate underground, and in spring steam rises from their nostrils as they bellow to attract a mate.

Dragon’s blood

This resin – a sticky substance collected from the bark of Socotra dragon trees (Dracaena cinnabari) – was once believed to be the blood lost by a dragon during a fight with an elephant.

It is used in traditional medicine around the world, particularly for treating skin conditions and healing wounds.