Could dragons really exist?

No

While I suppose dragons in some form may have existed I don't think that your friend claiming to be of viking descent is proof of that.
Dragons would have been more likely to inhabit warmer places as well due to them (probably) being cold blooded like reptiles are today.

The flying capacity is a red herring ( 😜) though. Many cultures’ dragons do not ‘fly’ . Most of the similar creatures in manuscripts and early paintings in the West are depicted as crawling or creeping on fairly short stumpy legs. The aerial exploits have become much more prevalent with the advent of modern photographic ( manipulated) media. The wings seemed to have been borrowed from the griffin, which is an earlier and metaphorical creature.

Lots of Saints were supposed to have battled and overcome dragons, Saint George is just the one we happen to have hung onto in the West. Saint Liphard is a very local saint to a small town on the Loire , who was supposed to have defeated a local dragon, who lived in the marshy banks of the river. For those of a sceptical mind, this symbolises both the triumph of religion over superstition and paganism, and the possibility of more hygienic practices and living conditions being introduced by the Saint.

But….in Murano, the glassmaking island in the Venetian Lagoon, the local saint, Donatus, did not just vanquish a dragon, he hung its bones above the altar of the main church. They were there in the 1990’s , although the Catholic modernisers had removed all but three ribs by 2009. I went to see it several times, you could get quite close. I thought it was most probably a large crocodile, although the skull seemed more arched ( I’m not a reptile expert).

Make of that what you will.

Put some coal in the coop.

Or if they get really annoyed with one another, BBQ!

Or I could train them to blast the weeds - they could be really useful if they just got their backsides in gear and are the appropriate rocks.

Noah's Ark is a whole other can of fire breathing worms

Yeah, just like The Martians.

I looked through my old copy of 'Noah's Ark in Pictures' and can find NO pictures of dragons (or Unicorns) so,

1. Some animals never bothered to turn up, (thought it was fake news).
2. Noah forgot about those animals, (he was a very old man at the time);
3. They were extinct before Noah's time, (could also explain why there are not mentioned in the bible).
4. They never did exist, (except in the heads of drunken, rampaging Vikings)
5. Something else...

Ask the Welsh why it's on their flag.

Clearly they exist and developed invisibility as a camouflage. Stop all the big game hunters making dragon skin sofa's. Thank goodness we moved to roof tiles instead of thatch!

My DS bought one of these from the Alchemists in York when we were on holiday - might do the trick on a teams call!

They could lay ready cooked eggs if they managed it

God bless you, @ChocolateTelephone, for that! It was niggling me too.

@OAPapparently - my chickens do that but in 20 years have yet to become fire breathing. I’ll tell them to try harder.

I think your DH was winding you up. Or was drunk at the time.

Not to be a terrible pedant, but there were no flying dinosaurs 😬

There were flying reptiles during the same era as dinosaurs, called pterosaurs. Although sharing characteristics, the two groups were distinct from one another.

I find it incredibly interesting that the Cyclops legend likely sprang from dwarf elephant fossils - the trunk cavity on the skull was mistaken for a massive eye, the eye sockets relatively insignificant.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/r7ewnt/cyclops_was_likely_inspired_by_pygmy_elephant/?rdt=40789

There are words for dragon in many diverse cultures, so IMO some large, lizard-like reptile that’s long since died out (except for the ferocious Komodo) did give rise to the myth. It’s often thought that a forked tongue darting in and out would have resembled a flame.

I dare say a lot of old folk myths are based in the dim and distant past, well before anything was written down, on fact.

Or like actual Toothless in the books.

I've noticed some really odd posts lately. I am usually oblivious to most things, wrapped up in my own world, but even I am starting to think this is how they are training AI in what is "normal".

Ahh I've not caught up on latest series, thanks I'll listen!

Also a lot of other stuff existed and was used, like hallucinogenic herb products etc.
Might explain the 🐲 dragons.

They’re mythological creatures. It’s possible that Vikings or other ancient races could have found dinosaur bones and labelled them as the magical creatures we know as dragons. But they were venerated as symbols for things, like strength for example, rather than being actual creatures they would fly. I mean Vikings are known for being seafaring aren’t they.

I don’t consider it to be possible in the literal sense of dragons as animals which walked the Earth. Had that been the case they would almost certainly be part of the fossil record, and there would be evidence of their impact on other animals which we do know existed. We also know from our understanding of biology and physics that the physical characteristics of dragons - e.g. being large flying reptiles which breathe fire - are not scientifically explicable.

Dragons form a significant part of the mythology of many countries. They capture our imaginations and play an important role in helping us define ideas about ourselves as humans, and our relationship to the world. Things don’t have to be literally true to tell us sincere truths about the world.

If you’re interested in the idea, the Earthsea books by Ursula le Guin are wonderful reads and portray a really interesting perspective on the mythological relationship between humans and dragons.

Apparently belief in elves is common in modern day Iceland.

I know people who believe in all host of magical / supernatural creatures like boggarts.
i love all that stuff. I’d like to believe in tree spirits and a whole host of woodland folk.

i don’t believe it, but I still like the idea of it!

😁