The Last Dragon (docudrama)
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The Last Dragon is a docudrama made by Animal Planet that is described as the story of "the greatest creature that never existed". It shows the evolution of dragons and projects what life might have been like if they had existed and evolved. It uses the premise that the ubiquity of dragons in world mythology indicates dragons could have existed. They are a species that were scientifically feasible and could have evolved, although they did not.
The program switches between two stories. The first uses CGI to show the dragons in their natural habitat through different eras in history. The second shows a modern day scientist, Professor Tanner, who believes in dragons. When the frozen remains of an unknown creature are discovered in the mountains, Tanner undertakes to examine it in an attempt to save his reputation. Once there, he discovers that the creature is a dragon. Tanner and his colleagues set about working out how it lived and how it died.
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[edit] Dragon Biology
[edit] Flight
Dragons' huge size would make it impossible for them to fly were it not for two large internal bladders. These have a combined volume of thirty cubic feet. The bladders fill with hydrogen, which is much lighter than air, to provide buoyancy.
[edit] Fire Breathing
The hydrogen in the bladders doubles as fuel for the fire that dragons are famous for breathing. The hydrogen combines with methane and platinum, as a catalyst, to produce flames. The inside of its mouth appears to be armour-plated and it has a false palate in its throat, similar to a crocodile, to stop backdraft.
Because of the double duty of the flight bladders, the more fire the dragon breathes the shorter the distance it can fly.
[edit] Dragon Species
Four dragon species were invented for the show.
- Prehistoric Dragon - A huge two-legged flying dragon that lived during the Cretaceous period.
- Marine Dragon - A long, slender dragon that swam. This species survived the KT event. It cannot fly.
- Forest Dragon - A long, slender dragon that patrols the bamboo forests of Asia and resembles a traditional Chinese dragon. It cannot fly.
- Mountain Dragon - A large six-limbed dragon that lives in the mountains of Europe and looks like the dragons of European mythology. It is the only vertebrate ever discovered with six limbs (four legs, two wings).
On the evolutionary tree shown during the program, the Desert Dragon is labelled, but it is not discussed.
[edit] See Also
[edit] External Links
- http://www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/RofFire.html A review discussing dragon biology in the film Reign of Fire from the standpoint of real-world science. From Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics.
