Did dragons ever exist?

[Brittanyroseee]

You probably think im a bit insane for asking this because they are mythical creatures but the reason I am asking this question is because dragons have been depicted in different cultures for many many centuries. Such as japan, china, africa, Europe, so on. If they never existed, how come many countries and cultures have depicted them?

[NamerOfStars]

Komodos and beardeds, yes. Also the great eared nightjar, which is a bird, not a dragon, but you wouldn't know that from looking at it:

As to other cultures' similarities in their dragons, the most likely explanation is people finding fossilized remains of great prehistoric beasts and thinking them the bodies of monsters- as an experiment, go read the story of the cyclops, then look at an elephant skull, and wonder if THAT might have been the inspiration. Then look at this picture, because it's cool, and tangentially related:

[TheSpaceGnome]

That depends on what you call a dragon.

Look into how countries in the middle ages described foreign wildlife and fossils.

Foreign wildlife is often illustrated based soley on poorly crafted verbal descriptions, and you can see how something like this pterosaur skeleton might be interepreted as a wyvern.

[purplepoppy]

Most likely each culture found dinosaur bones and didn't realise how old they were. Interestingly Western dragon's were once the serpentine shape of eastern ones but changed over the years. Also it was the Romans who spread the idea of dragons from Greece and the near east across Europe which could account for them popping up in different cultures.

Lightening strikes on livestock are surprisingly common so finding a field of charred cows would just reinforce the belief.

[Smashingdoozy]

No they never existed, people like stories stories get passed around.

[Brittanyroseee]

Ohhhh ok😞 i wish they were real like HTTYD

[DryGermanGuy]

Tyrannosaurus Rex is probably as close as you could come to a dragon...

[exitseven]

It would not surprise me that some mutated dinosaur somehow made it out of the Mesozoic Era. i doubt they could fly or breathe fire though

[OfMiceandMen]

I don't think so. The only flying reptiles were dinosaurs.

[Astarlessnightsky]

No, Dinos and other prehistoric creatures existed and their remains were found.

[QuietRunner]

yes in the Second age

[LavLavLuv]

I’m a dragon

[Dinosaursandanime65]

Ask Noah.

[slatyb]

No, they haven't.

[slatyb]

Physically such creatures are not possible. There's a limit to the largest animal that can fly. There's also no way a creature could 'breathe fire' unless they were able to consume and store highly flammable compounds.