Dragons, although fictive animals, can be put into the Reptilia class of the Animal kingdom.

Given that, we can spot a few scientific errors, or at least unlikely features.

Dragons are poikilo-ectotherm. That means that, like most if not all reptiles, their core temperature is fluctuating and that their source of heat must come from the environment, unlike humans, for example. We also call this a "cold-blooded" organism. Ectotherms have a better metabolic productivity than endotherms (animals whose source of heat is internal), that means that they can eat only sparsely. I won't get into the details that when they digest a prey, they should be kinda dormant because a lot of energy must go into the digestive functions, and I bet the Skyrim plains and mountains aren't a 30 degree Celsius environment.

Talking about the environment of Skyrim. A country situated at relatively high latitudes like this one might not be the best place for a cold-blooded dragon. The low temperatures would tend to make a dragon lazy and lethargic. A dragon wouldn't spend A LOT of energy flying around in circles waiting for some prey to come (what kind of prey would come if they saw a giant dragon flying in circles, except the Dragonborn?), that's a real waste of energy. Given that they could receive enough energy from the sun, despite the temperatures, to maintain a relatively high metabolism, they should be dormant in the night, not because they need to sleep (but that's also the case), but because they wouldn't have enough energy to move a lot.

Dragons in Skyrim shouldn't fly in circles. Instead, the energy needed to keep those giant reptiles alive and moving would force them to actively hunt "small" preys, like elks, deers, or horses, and bigger ones like mammoths. Then, after eating enough, they would undergo a lethargic phase to digest. They'd hide and rest for 24 to 48 hours. Also, they could not be active during the night because the amount of energy they would receive wouldn't be sufficient. Exceptions could be made for dragons near other heat sources, or in other environments like Daggerfall.

I don't criticize Skyrim, though, because it is a great game, and I just did this for fun and discussion.

There's your critical flaw, and not even halfway through the first paragraph. Dragons breath fire. Fire. They create their own heat inside themselves. And then there's frost dragons. Dragons that breathe ice obviously aren't cold-blooded.

Dragons have special gases in a special stomach that will burst into flame, or frost, when mixed with oxygen. That is how you explain that.

Also, dragons are NOT creatures. They count as a Race. You can use the BecomeRace console cheat in-game to become a Dragon.

Dragons are immortal and have a regenerating form. They don't need to eat or nothing like that cause of this regenerating ability. Dragons are also genderless and cannot reproduce.

I think those the main things to say about Dragons in Skyrim.

There is a theory amongst paleontologist that dinosaurs where warm blooded reptiles due to their size etc... There where also dinosaurs in what would be called their polar regions who had to stay warm.Perhaps dragons are cut from the same cloth and are a type of warm blooded reptile? And from watching the way they fly it looks like they glide rather then the bird like swimming movement in flight, they only really flap their wings while diving and cornering to attack, and the gliding method of flight is a very good energy saving way to fly.

I believe there was a History Channel special all about "What if dragons were real". It was extremely interesting, and this was back in 2003 or so.. Anyone remember this?

They actually explained all of this stuff, and even how the dragons breathed fire.


Edit: It's called "Dragons, a Fantasy Made Real"

Well, you won't make me believe they keep a little fire inside their stomach which flares when they breath, won't you? Like someone else said here, a possible way for that to happen is that they keep different gases in small bladders that, when mixed, burst into flames. Those gases don't produce heat, and there ain't no gas combustion inside the dragon because he'd burn from inside if that was possible, but it's not because no oxygen = no fire.



Yes, I've read about that. Maybe dragons are warm-blooded, after all. It's a fictive world so who knows!

http://animal.discovery.com/convergence/dragons/show/show.html yep I thought it was really interesting, and a lot of what they came up with actually made sense.

I remember that. They had some sort of flap in their throat or something for the fire.

Actually I swear I had a book about that too.

Check out the show in my above post, it goes into rather detailed reasoning for how the dragon "works" and a lot of it actually makes sense from a biological point of view.

edit: The link that I gave isn't the show it's a description of the show, sorry.

When I read "metabolism", I suddenly thought:
"Wait, do dragons poop?"

Because seriously, you don't see any excretion system when you stare at their body. Just with that fact, anything scientific about dragons starts to fall like unstable Lego

Thinking about it now.... How did practically every single civilization in the world, that had no connections to one another at all, depict almost identical creatures?

Because they existed?

It is the same way with the idea of creation. Ask any japanese about creation, then ask any african, then an indian, their idea of creation is basically the same.

Although in case of japan, it involves a lot of crazy stuff

Dinosaur bones as each culture more then likely at some point found a fossil or two, at least that's the theory.

Aliens obviously.... The same way there are similar gods all over the world, and depictions of spaceships in ruins. /conspiracy derrr

I don't think imagining a larger form of an animal with wings (lizard) is uncommon though. There seems to be many different legends of giant creatures and creatures with wings that shouldn't have wings.

I'd definitely believe it. Obviously they wouldn't be very magical, but the idea of a *giant flying lizard that can shoot fire seems logical, especially compared to some of the freaky animals we have today.

Edit:*perhaps not even giant.

........First off, Dragons are pretty much 70% magic, when they "breath" fire they are talking, When they "fly" they are talking. they are a race. and with anything about how much they need to eat. they frequent Cows and mammoths. not to mention these guys are basically dead and held together -BY- magick (just about all the dragons are resurrected) I'm pretty sure most rationals you try to relay in concurrent with our one prespective understanding of earth and this creatures is pretty flawed.

Perhaps it's the "great minds think alike" rule. Ancient people saw lizard/snake as "terrifying" and the only way to make 'em more terrifying is to add wings like eagles and horns like bulls

the Cyclops myth is theorized to have come from ancient elephant skulls or mammoth skulls, if you look at an elephant skull there is one large opening where the trunk should be but ancient man took it as a giant eye socket.Just like the dinosaur fossils giving birth to the dragon myth/legend.

Considering they are normally immortal also....And considering the actual lore of TES, we can't assume Occam's Razor on anything. Were talking magic holes in the sky and Cat people with barbed WILLYS.

Dragons don't basically "die", they live on, but with "limited bodily functions", which is not something you'd want to happen when you're still alive at the lowest level

Basically, Voldemort

I wouldn't be surprise if Dragons were once real, it is possible. I actually read this one article on it and it is a good read. Let me link it...

http://www.valserrie.com/vs%20A_DidDragonsixist.htm - There. It's long but worth the read if you are interested in Dragons and wonders how they could be real.

I wouldn't be surprised if they did either! Look at the giant squid, it was believed to be a sailors myth until what 10-15 years ago and now here home we have the tenticial of one that's around 15 feet long believed to have been attached to a giant squid that was 40-50 feet in total length.

Magically Dragons on Nirn created by a god don't apply to Earth Science Laws.

But earth science laws can explain the biological mechanics of dragons.

ON EARTH.