What if Dragons Actually Existed?
video description
Humans: Start raising cattle etc
Dragon: Oh! Dinner!
Humans: Start offering up animals to the dragon
Dragon: Oh. uhh. okay.
Humans: are attacked by other humans or animals or even another dragon
Dragon: kills attackers to defend food source oh you clever little buggers you.
That's about the only human-dragon friendship I can really imagine. They're sure as hell not letting anything ride them or going to be told what to do.
I imagine dragons would die out from either very few of their kids living to adulthood if they have lots of kids and just leave them to die, which fits them being reptilian, or them having so few kids that even the occasional death or destroyed egg is an actual blow to their species like with the megafauna of our own world, with that second one probably being something that fits the less snake-like dragons.
The megafauna would probably have more offspring each time they reproduce like how rabbits that are constantly preyed upon by other creatures have a ridiculous fertility rate, although dragons might not have to eat that much due to the cubed square law (probably won't apply as much to anything with actual wings because those have a lot of surface area, especially with how huge they'd have to be) considering their size and since they're often depicted staying in one place guarding things they might have cold-blooded hibernation and have a tendency to collect anything they deem unusual like human valuables, which they may even take just to experiment with to find out why those clever things are so obsessed with jewellery, charms etc or find themselves being equally entranced to anything shiny.
The death of the megafauna could cause a huge recession in numbers among the dragons, practically putting a nail in the coffin of the species so that it's bound to die from the negative effects of inbreeding caused by numbers shortage. One of the effects of some of the recessive genes is twins conjoined at the neck, causing hydras. By the time any especially capable and well-equipped humans are taking them out the last dragons are deformed from inbreeding and nothing like the majestic beings that the ancestors of the middle-age humans had considered divine. Most would be smaller than their natural size, overly reliant on theft from humans as their deformities and being undergrown due to childhood undernourishment and some even lowkey wanna die anyway, hence it being possible for some dude with a spear to take on creatures once believed to demand the respect of the gods themselves.
Date: 2022-07-15
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Comments and reviews: 9
Christian
Two years later but still.
First thought on seeing the title: If Dragons existed, Humans would have hunted them to extinction by now. We have a long history of not tolerating the existence of threats or competition.
Second thought:
I could see the presence of large, mobile, invincible predator delaying the advent of agricultural societies for some time, as towns, farms, and livestock herds would likely be unsustainable. Fortunately for us, dragons likely would not survive the extinction of giant mammals in great numbers. So once we developed the skills to track dragons back to their lairs and murder them in their sleep (as we have done to wolves, bears, lions, etc, we would start carving out dragon-free zones for agricture while dragons were sufficiently reduced in number to survive without overlapping out territory.
There would probably be more rapid development of heavy bow-type weaponry (crossbows, ballistae, other spear-throwers) in order to defend our settlements. The advancements in mechanical engineering required to do that would likely result in much faster mechanical progress once we achieved static agricultural societies.
Dragons likely would not be driven to extinction unless and until we reached a level where they became the subject of trophy hunting. probably not until the development of effective firearms.
The only questions would be:
1) Would we survive long enough to develop the hunting skills to evict dragons from our chosen territory, and
2) Would we reach the point of caring about wildlife conservation before or after completely exterminating them?
reply
Two years later but still.
First thought on seeing the title: If Dragons existed, Humans would have hunted them to extinction by now. We have a long history of not tolerating the existence of threats or competition.
Second thought:
I could see the presence of large, mobile, invincible predator delaying the advent of agricultural societies for some time, as towns, farms, and livestock herds would likely be unsustainable. Fortunately for us, dragons likely would not survive the extinction of giant mammals in great numbers. So once we developed the skills to track dragons back to their lairs and murder them in their sleep (as we have done to wolves, bears, lions, etc, we would start carving out dragon-free zones for agricture while dragons were sufficiently reduced in number to survive without overlapping out territory.
There would probably be more rapid development of heavy bow-type weaponry (crossbows, ballistae, other spear-throwers) in order to defend our settlements. The advancements in mechanical engineering required to do that would likely result in much faster mechanical progress once we achieved static agricultural societies.
Dragons likely would not be driven to extinction unless and until we reached a level where they became the subject of trophy hunting. probably not until the development of effective firearms.
The only questions would be:
1) Would we survive long enough to develop the hunting skills to evict dragons from our chosen territory, and
2) Would we reach the point of caring about wildlife conservation before or after completely exterminating them?
reply
Terras
Wait, if dragons were intelligent wouldn't they (mostly) leave humans alone post domestication? Dragons would require a lot of food even if they were able to lower their caloric demands. So to see a (relatively) small thing (human) raising (relatively) large meaty animals (like cows) wouldn't the dragon just do the occasional raid for a cattle or two, or just wait for the offering. Wouldn't their thought process be something like small thing fears me, small thing raise much bigger thing, small thing gives me bigger thing to leave them alone, I leave them alone I get easy food Not saying dragons would be amazingly intelligent but they'd likely be on par with dogs or dolphins.
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Wait, if dragons were intelligent wouldn't they (mostly) leave humans alone post domestication? Dragons would require a lot of food even if they were able to lower their caloric demands. So to see a (relatively) small thing (human) raising (relatively) large meaty animals (like cows) wouldn't the dragon just do the occasional raid for a cattle or two, or just wait for the offering. Wouldn't their thought process be something like small thing fears me, small thing raise much bigger thing, small thing gives me bigger thing to leave them alone, I leave them alone I get easy food Not saying dragons would be amazingly intelligent but they'd likely be on par with dogs or dolphins.
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Robert
naahh, this one feels off. IF dragons existed human development must have been greatly affected. Just think of humans, before gunpowder, trying to cross a mountain range or a big body of water with dragons and giant sea snakes hunting there. Exploration and expantion would be very hard and not to mention if dragons where anywere near as smart as humans( such as asian dragons) the dragons could very well band together and destory entire regions, people included.
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naahh, this one feels off. IF dragons existed human development must have been greatly affected. Just think of humans, before gunpowder, trying to cross a mountain range or a big body of water with dragons and giant sea snakes hunting there. Exploration and expantion would be very hard and not to mention if dragons where anywere near as smart as humans( such as asian dragons) the dragons could very well band together and destory entire regions, people included.
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maximaldinotrap
Whatifalthist, the reason I think there would be actual dragon riders is that if dragons were intelligent enough Man and Dragon could easily work together and bolster each other's strengths.
Imagine if dragons were able to be armored in WWI and capable of being equipped with things like turrets that humans could man.
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Whatifalthist, the reason I think there would be actual dragon riders is that if dragons were intelligent enough Man and Dragon could easily work together and bolster each other's strengths.
Imagine if dragons were able to be armored in WWI and capable of being equipped with things like turrets that humans could man.
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Michael
Actually its true that some dragons are tamed like the legend of saint martha and the tarrasque or Marduk and musshushu in ancient Babylon
And any list that doesnt have hydras or sea dragons is blasphemy
Plus these are giant flyers so their range during the seasons would be over hundreds upon thousands of miles
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Actually its true that some dragons are tamed like the legend of saint martha and the tarrasque or Marduk and musshushu in ancient Babylon
And any list that doesnt have hydras or sea dragons is blasphemy
Plus these are giant flyers so their range during the seasons would be over hundreds upon thousands of miles
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Eduard
Well, i find it nice that you dive into alternate history-scenarios with such creatures, but i would wanna look at individual creatures or species instead of a group:
Like the Wyvern or such. If you think that is a nice idea, i got some suggestions: Start with Giants, with their starting-point being 100, 000 BCE
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Well, i find it nice that you dive into alternate history-scenarios with such creatures, but i would wanna look at individual creatures or species instead of a group:
Like the Wyvern or such. If you think that is a nice idea, i got some suggestions: Start with Giants, with their starting-point being 100, 000 BCE
reply
Konstantin
You forgot Companies Hunting Dragons!
Humans have been hunting giant animals for hundreds of years. Even dangerous Animals like Sperm Whales, which have been reported to attack and ram boats.
There surely would be something valuable on Dragons to be commercially hunted by the likes of whaling companies.
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You forgot Companies Hunting Dragons!
Humans have been hunting giant animals for hundreds of years. Even dangerous Animals like Sperm Whales, which have been reported to attack and ram boats.
There surely would be something valuable on Dragons to be commercially hunted by the likes of whaling companies.
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Brady
The Devil went down to Georgia
He was lookin for a soul to steal
Cuz he was in a bind and he was behind
And he was to make a deal
When he saw that young man sawing on a fiddle and playin it hot
And the Devil jumped up on a hickory stump and said Boy let me tell you what,
Please continue
reply
The Devil went down to Georgia
He was lookin for a soul to steal
Cuz he was in a bind and he was behind
And he was to make a deal
When he saw that young man sawing on a fiddle and playin it hot
And the Devil jumped up on a hickory stump and said Boy let me tell you what,
Please continue
reply
Andres
If dragons are massively intelligent (which they usually are, and they are the apex predators. Then not only would our advancement of technology be very different but the likelihood of domestication or codependence is pretty high. Humans are crafty and both sides stands to benefit.
reply
If dragons are massively intelligent (which they usually are, and they are the apex predators. Then not only would our advancement of technology be very different but the likelihood of domestication or codependence is pretty high. Humans are crafty and both sides stands to benefit.
reply
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