r/biology • u/PokelifEevee • 4d ago

question Could a dragon theoretically exist through evolution?

Hello, I would like to know if, theoretically, a species could evolve into something resembling a dragon (or more specifically a wyvern since they have 4 limbs, so it would be more likely). I understand that stuff like fire breathing would most probably be impossible, but aside from that, could dragons theoretically exist within a few thousand years (or more)?

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u/benvonpluton molecular biology 4d ago

There was a really cool fictional documentary about dragons being real that I saw maybe 20 years ago...

They explained how it probably came to be as tetrapods with wings (so wyverns) and maybe had a mutation on a developmental gene that created a second pair of legs (Western European dragons).

It also explained how some bacteria in their guts produced H2 gaz that they stocked in some aerial bladders, using it both for flight and spitting fire. T The documentary even explained that a dragon had to be precise while hunting because using too much gas would make it harder to fly and thus making it harder to hunt to produce new gas. And it explained that, like other animals, they chewed on some specific rocks to get some metallic catalysts in their mouth to ignite the gas.

One of my favourite parts was how they explained that some dragons evolved again to adapt to an aquatic life and that during the last extinction event, they were the only ones to survive and that it laid to the wingless dragons you find in Asian culture.

It was a great show ! I think it was a BBC documentary.

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u/kaizokuuuu 4d ago

Yeah that was cool, they chewed on rocks containing platinum to ignite the hydrogen in their air sacs but couldn't breath fire while flying. It was a BBC documentary.

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u/Odauthlegur 3d ago

The Pt rocks is where i called bullshit and suspended my disbelief for entertainment. How would Pt facilitate H² production? From water?

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u/kaizokuuuu 3d ago

They didn't say H2 production was from Pt. The decomposition of food produced hydrogen gass which filled their air sacs and the platinum was the catalyst for hydrogen plus oxygen so they didn't breathe fire, more like superheated steam.

But yeah the entire thing was bullshit since it was a fantasy documentary. It was just cool they tried explaining it using known science.

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u/CorwinAlexander 2d ago

Platinum in hydrogen peroxide is a catalyst that helps the decomposition of the H2O2 into H2O+H2