#cockatrices

[draconesmundi]

Happy Dracones Monday! The Cockatrice

Happy Dracones Monday, where I show off a dragon from the Dracones Mundi project every Monday!

The cockatrice, or 'chicken dragon', is a dragon that disguises itself as a red jungle fowl to lure in large prey, such as other dragons. They come from Indonesia so their natural prey is the Indonesian Naga, however they have been exported from their home range to all over the world. As an invasive species, they eat other serpentine dragons such as lindwyrms, rainbow serpents or horned serpents. These dragons live peaceably among domestic fowl and are therefore as widespread as chicken farming; similar to how cats and rats have spread all over the globe by human intervention.

They have extremely toxic venom as they are built to kill serpentine dragons much larger than themselves. Their venomous breath can burn flesh with cytotoxic venom droplets - if you are close enough to see their eyes then you are within range for burning spittle, giving rise to the legend of a deadly gaze.

While they have a lot of frills and wattles like feathers, these are Dracones Mundi dragons, which are essentially serpentine fantasy crocodiles - under the wattles they look like any other wyrm or wyvern.

Juvenile cockatrices are more serpentine and look like a little snake with a crown, earning them the title 'little king' or 'basilisk'.

Follow @draconesmundi for a new dragon every monday!

[deepwaterfiction]

Text: We raise Cockatrices among other magical creatures, for their strange, sometimes useful byproducts. An unfertilized egg will blind anyone who so much as touches it for 24 hours.

[antiqueanimals]

Baleful Beasts and Eerie Creatures. Illustrated by Rod Ruth. 1976.

[hearthsidefr]

Catching their gaze starts to make you feel a bit weak. Almost like you just used quite a bit of magic, but you just can't help but look.

I have 3 new cockatrice hatchlings, and one from the first nest (that I never posted lmao). Available here!

@jollyroger-fr

[pangur-and-grim]

obviously I need to raise some money! so anyone have ideas for chicken related mystery egg pins?

[elsewhereuniversity]

Will I survive not really looking for a judgment just some encouragement this cockatrice isn't gonna slay it's self

Unfortunately, there are in fact two cockatrices, something you don’t find out until too late.

[cryptids-of-the-world]

The Cockatrice is a dragon-like creature found in Old World Bestiaries in England. The Cockatrice was described as a dragon-like creature about the size of a chicken with the head of a rooster. It is said a Cockatrice is born when a rooster lays an egg that is then incubated by a toad or a snake and people used to toss the egg over their houses without having hit the house to prevent the Cockatrice from hatching. The Cockatrice had an ability that anyone who looked at it or came into contact with it would die or be turned to stone. The weasel is said to be the only animal immune to looking at a Cockatrice and it’s said that if a Cockatrice hears a rooster crow or if it looks at its own reflection in a mirror it would die. The cockatrice is also a Heraldic Beast.

Art by: Dan Scott

[clovercoin]

WOO I colored in all those sketches of my silly billy “domesticated cockatrice” idea for the world of Clo. tbh I really adore this, I can’t own chickens for a way long time. I plan to try going a full year without 1 single flare then rewards myself by planning to own chickens if we are in a permanent place. c:

SO UNTIL I CAN HAVE CHICKENS, I’m going to make very silly personal cockatrices and play with them in my head or give them to my characters to be more “eco friendly” haha.