Natural Beyond Reality

Full disclosure: I am a fiction writer. It is what I do now for fun, and what I hope to do for a career after college (and maybe grad school; I don't know for sure yet). I adore the limitless bounds of fiction and the ability to create and read stories about things that could never happen in the real world. As far back as I can remember, I've loved stories about things like fairies, unicorns, and dragons. And so, it was almost guaranteed that there'd be at least one post on this blog about a species of animal that may or may not have ever actually existed.

Clearly, the fictional animals mentioned above don't exist, at least not in the magical forms we are familiar with from the fairytales of our youth (and I'm fairly certain that fairies have never existed in any form). I think, though, that we can all agree that the dinosaurs existed, and they really weren't all that different from the dragons we enjoy reading about in fiction novels and picture books. However, I'm one of those (possibly a wee bit eccentric) people who likes to believe that the fire-breathing dragons of myth once existed (even if I may very well be wrong). I mean, after all, it's pretty impressive that there accounts of dragons from all over the world, from various cultures who likely never had any contact with each other until only mere centuries ago. From the Native American Piasa, to the Chinese Lóng, to the European Dragon, there are accounts of dragons from cultures around the world. Of course, these fearsome lizards could have just been based on dinosaurs, and the legends are likely embellished. But if there are beetles that shoot chemicals that cause burns (see here) then is it really that hard to believe there could have once been a species of reptile that could spit out something similar, which could have been interpreted by early storytellers as fire?

I don't know. Maybe I'm just too much of a dreamer (a fair accusation, to be sure). Maybe I'm one of those people who too-desperately wishes for things to be real that aren't. It just seems unlikely to me that so many cultures would have surprisingly-similar accounts of a species of animal purely by coincidence.

In reality, though, there is a species of animal known as draco volans (or, I kid you not, "the common flying dragon"), a tiny, dragon-like lizard that can glide short distances using flaps of skin that look like dragon wings. It may not be the same thing as the sort of dragons I'd like to wish existed at some point in earth's history, but these little guys are very cute just the same.

 

This post's challenge is to try and find a real equivalent to your favorite fantasy animal somewhere on the internet. Unicorns may not exist, for example, but many beautiful varieties of horses and deer do (as does the narwhal). Have fun stretching your imagination, fellow observers, and I'll see you again soon.