#dragon science

[project-bestiary]

Passive noot axolotl is like, my favourite character design I’ve ever seen /gen , I love him. He looks like he could be a marketable plushie

Also dragon sci, objectively the cutest design

[thegraycriminal]

What animal makes the best irl dragon analogy

The real dragon??

Cats

Snakes

Crows

Geckos

Eels

College students

Dogs

The beast™️

Voting ended onFeb 14, 2023

this is for science, pls reblog for science

[thymeskip]

request from @ask-yandere-sci for dragon science sans!!

first thing that came to mind was lung dragon bc i think they’re very pretty and so now we have this guy ^^

[ edit: just now realizing that the request might’ve been for their science sans and not the main science sans. the one i drew was doing the main one, but i have no clue, it could’ve be either- ]

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Do You Want to Rediscover a Lost Civilization? Because This is How You Accidentally Rediscover a Lost Civilization. (This Post is Spoilerific. Be Warned.)

Normally I don't do spoilerific posts, but this one is spoilery because I genuinely had no idea how to talk about Marie Brennan's incredible Lady Trent memoirs without spoiling the thing. You could almost call this post "What Happens When a Naturalist and Archaeologist Have Overlapping Fields of Interest" because that is literally what happened, and it's how they accidentally discovered a pocket of an ancient civilization that had long been considered lost. Oh, and there is some absolutely WILD human blood and dragon egg rituals in there too, so keep on reading.

Isabella, the Lady Trent, previously Dame Isabella Camehurst, nee Isabella Hendermore, loves nothing so much as natural history and dragons, and her professional and personal exploits are relayed in appropriately victorian detail in these five memoirs. Isabella begins with simple experiments that headbutt the field of dragon naturalism forward, but still bump up against the archaeological mysteries of the Draconeans.

Having finished this series, the peices scattered throughout the books, even that first one, are stunning. The Vystrana fire stones, Draconean ruins, and the *maked dead from page 1 but I completely missed it because I have a PhD in English* Jacob Camehurtst all play out over the subsequent four books and are all absolutely crucial to the steps that lead not only to Isabella finding the last pocket of Draconean society, but also discovering the morphology and breeding program that allowed bathing dragon eggs in human blood to create the hybrid Draconeans.

But wait, you say. Lady Trent is a dragon naturalist, why does she even care about the Draconeans? Well, that would be a combination of literally bumping into them everywhere--and when life is trying that hard to show you something, you sit up and pay attention--and Suhail.

Once poor, doomed Jacob takes a knife to the gut and passes away in book 1 (Y'all, I warned you twice there would be spoilers, so nobody gets to be mad right now), Isabella is supported by Tom Wilker, who is the best research colleague ever. But he is firmly a platonic friend, despite the emotional intimacy of their relationship. Then Suhail struts onto the scene. The entire vibe I got here was if Numair from Tamora Pierce's Tortall books had been transplanted more or less wholesale into Marie Brennan's work. And yes, that is entirey meant to be a compliment; in this house we stan Suhail.

Suhail and Isabella are, first and foremost, a partnership. Partners in life, in love, and absolutely in research. Suhail is an archaeologist who studies the Draconeans, and the pair accidentally bump into each other when their literal research sites overlap and everything just spirals from there.

What I love most about Isabella and Suhail is that they respect and support each other's research interests, even the bits that don't explicitly overlap. If there was ever an academic romance--and not in the modern sense of academia, but the deeper sense of two academics who love research for its own sake--this is it.

There's no magic in these books, but the overwhelming sense I had while reading them was a feeling of magic. In this case, however, it was the magic of discovery, and of being so good at what you do--and so lucky in your friends and colleagues--that something that is completely justified and scientifically sound in-universe feels like magic.

[project-bestiary]

Does dragon Sci have trouble handling small items sometimes? Like beakers of chemicals for example

[saltandlimes]

Thesis: Dragons are insects.

Supporting evidence:

6 limbs (hexapods)

Exoskeleton which they shed at regular intervals (sometimes known as scales by the uninitiated)

Compound/complex eyes which have a range and depth outside the human norm

Egg laying

highly specialized communication organs (and ability to communicate “influence” humans in ways that substantially differ from those of mammals)

chemical defense system (“fire breathing”)

Most closely fit taxonomical requirements for insects

Are regarded as a pest.

Complex social communities.

magical augmentation of respiratory system.

Dragons are not dinosaurs. No feathers.

Dinosaurs are not reptiles, because they would be unable to function if they were endothermic.

Conclusion: Dragons are insects.

[southpawswordsman]

So I was thinking about dragons today right, and like, two things about dragons are that they hoard treasure and that their eggs are super valuable bc of what they’re made of. So logically it doesn’t make sense for an animal to lay an egg made of gold or copper or sapphire or whatever, because that’s not an organic element in that sense.

BUT

What if /that’s/ the reason they hoard treasure? What if they ingest the gold/silver/etc before they get ready to lay an egg, and then biomagically synthesize that into the egg’s shell??? Copper is definitely more protective than calcium carbonate, that’s for sure.

That would make sense as to why the dragon with the biggest hoard is the greatest dragon; animals instinctually choose mates based on what they need to reproduce/survive. The gold and jewels are a dragons way of saying “choose me” the same way a bowerbird builds an elaborate nest to attract a mate.

Tl;dr: Dragons hoard treasure because they just want to be good parents.

[askmeadowlark]

Excellent questions, and the answer is somewhat complicated. Allow me to explain as best I can.

While my internal temperature is extremely high, my external temperature is quite low. This is part of the natural magic of my flame. The fire inside is part of me. Dragons such as I require this high internal temperature to survive and function, and it would be terribly inefficient for it to simply escape and light ablaze anything which I touched. 

The end result is a perfection of magical evolution, as my body possesses some level of natural magic which keeps my core temperature high, without allowing that heat to escape. I have been told by some ponies that my scales are often cool to the touch, but prolonged contact (usually in form of hugs) often reaches a comfortable warmth as the magic adjusts to compensate for the contact. This is all natural and unconscious action, on my part.

The gold, aluminum, or any other material which may eventually soften or melt in my presence, only does so after decades of contact. My heat generation may be extraordinarily effective, but it does bleed out slowly over long periods of time. The magic inherent in this heat seems persistent, which is also why Gold is so important, with its high heat conductivity, malleability, and nontarnishable nature. Over time, gold retains my lost body heat, and in addition to being comfortable, becomes a more efficient place to sleep.

In addition, I am quite capable of casting protection spells upon Lemon, such as Heat Shield. While this is unnecessary for interaction with myself, it does make me feel better knowing she is protected from any other threats. She is an incredibly well-warded Duck.