Dragnix.Net

this may get a little scientific

if a dragon weighs eg: 10 tonnes, its wings will have to be colossal to get it of the ground right?

then how come all art of dragons (well, some of it) shows the wings small compared ot their body size. surely the amount of lift needed is too great for the dragon to supply.

any ideas on how they actually fly with such large body weights nad relatively small wings?
thanks
~ Silver

simple! they possess a gas that is lighter than the oxygen/nitrogen composite floating around. this means either helium or hydrogen. it cant be any other element lower than nitrogen, because those are all solid or liquid. helium is a noble gas, therefore it is chemically stable. hydrogen is the best idea for this, because it is flammable and can be stored in a second stomach, as opposed to methane, which is a complex molecule but very flammable. This sack can be used to store the "fuel" for a dragons fire. I digress! A dragon does need it's wings to be at least 3 feet longer than its body, to provide lift, and it needs to have a broad wingspan to produce said lift. and if a dragon does this on a hot day, it can ride on thermals for even MORE lift.

nifty! thanks Chalgrish

I don't mind what kind of wings a dragon has because they are beautiful creatures.

dragons are beautiful. Why does it matter what wings they have. Although I prefer feathered.

i like feathered wings better, though they are a pig to draw *scowls*

Chalgrish wrote:simple! they possess a gas that is lighter than the oxygen/nitrogen composite floating around. this means either helium or hydrogen. it cant be any other element lower than nitrogen, because those are all solid or liquid. helium is a noble gas, therefore it is chemically stable. hydrogen is the best idea for this, because it is flammable and can be stored in a second stomach, as opposed to methane, which is a complex molecule but very flammable. This sack can be used to store the "fuel" for a dragons fire. I digress! A dragon does need it's wings to be at least 3 feet longer than its body, to provide lift, and it needs to have a broad wingspan to produce said lift. and if a dragon does this on a hot day, it can ride on thermals for even MORE lift.

Although you do produce these gases from digestion, you would need a huge amount to keep a creature of that size airborne. You would need a large amount to keep a human with wings airborne also. The dragons wings were probably the same length from tip to tip than the body was from the tip of the tail to its head, or maybe longer. Its bones, like most birds, were probably hollow as to make the dragon lighter. Both those aspects would enable the dragon to fly.

thank you also Draco.

ah.... but! they would need less of hydrogen than they would of methane, therefore creating less mass to lift. and wings are likely thick, creating heavier downdraft, and the muscles on their shoulders would have incredible strength.

But you cannot keep methane inside of your body for a long period of time. It produces suffocation by reducing the concentration of oxygen enhaled. And the wings were probably leathery-like and light below the bones which probably had a lot of very strong muscles.

a dragons physiology is much different than that of a human's so they probably COULD keep methane is a second stomach specifically designed to prevent that kind of atrpohy

Hey, another thing that you forgot. I read up someplace that Dragons had a part of a bird on them (i.e. the wings) and they also gained another trait of Birds. Hollow wings. This would also help reduce their weight, then along with a methane and/or Hilium/Hydrogen gas, this could help reduce the weight of the dragon extremely.

Just some thoughts that I thought that perhaps you 2 would of missed.

Touche, Chalgrish.

we didnt miss it, zoan

a duel with science! this is good. i personally support both sides

I have seen several things on dragons and the one that makes the most sense is the "bones are honeycombed" theory. Like Zoan said.
And Zoan, did you watch that dragon special on Animal Planet?

Hmm...I dont know much about different gasses but what animal can naturally produce; methane, helium, and all of that... To my knowledge those gasses are poisonus to most if not all organisms. I know a dragons physiology is different from other animals but... how different would it have to be to produce and contain these gasses? Im not much of a biologist/zoologist but I would think what im pointing out is important.

Well, take into thought the komodo dragon. It's saliva is poisonous to other animals and not itself. So maybe the poison gasses that a dragon produces are not so poisonous. Maybe dragon's have some sort of organ that null the poisonous substance in the gas? I dunno, just thinking.

Chalgrish said that it could have been stored in a seperate 'sack' so it didn't stay in the bloodstream.

I personely like scaly wings...

I like any wing

I know this is old but i think that thyre all the best!!

When a dragon's body digests food it creates a gas, we all know that, but a dragons gas gets stored in a special orgon called the flight gland. This gas is lighter than air giving it a helpful lift.

bat like definitely thats how i imagine it

id go with bat like