Now there isn't a whole lot of science behind dragons flying in my opinion...at least not compared to the other stuff. But still, it couldn't hurt to look into it a bit. While it is one of the most commonly-accepted fact for western-style dragons, it's no less unusual. When you look at a T-Rex skeleton or animation, I'm assuming (or at least hoping) that your first reaction isn't "Dang I hope he doesn't fly away and return with a whole flock of dinos to come and murder me." Then again if you do, it wouldn't really be the worst thing I've heard. But essentially, that's what a lot of people think about dragons at first glance...beside the fireblast....In any case, let's explore my scientific theory behind dragon flight!

One of the most common theories to dragon flight is a second set of lungs that holds a light gas to make the dragon significantly lighter. While I did explore this idea a bit in the Fire-Breathing section of this story, I don't think it's a very large part to the secret of reptilian flight. But let's consider it for a moment. Assuming part of a dragon's food is digested into a gas and shifted to this second pair of lungs, it would be very impractical to use this gas for both fire-breathing and flying. Still, with luck, the gas may provide an extra lightness boost, like when a bird poops if it's frightened so it can fly away faster.

But I don't like the idea of a snake balloon, funny as it was in "Shrek". Instead, I have loved to focus on the wings since i was eight years old (maybe even younger!) Take a look at Toothless from HTTYD. Without his wings he's a pretty small dragon. At only twice the size of a human, he can support two in the air with complete ease. The length of his entire body, including the tail, is about the length of a single wing. Part of his flight secret is the triple-pair of wings and bird-like hollow bone structure. I'll admit, I started writing the series long before I ever got into "How to Train Your Dragon", but since then I have based a lot of my ideas of flight on the first movie.

With so much air resistance, it is impossible to say that they could not stay aloft. But, could they take off? My idea is one of a very light, sensitive, and fragile wing membrane. Evolution would have strengthened it in time, and yet we are left with a wingspan more than twice the length of the dragon from nose to tail-tip, while the wings are sensitive and delicate enough that they can be folded neatly to a dragon's sides and hardly hinder their walking.

My flight idea is short and sweet: massive, flexible, and very light wings.

What's your theory? Is there anything else you'd like me to cover on flight, or any other things about dragons you're confused about? Don't forget to leave a comment to let me know what you think!