10. Dragons May Have Been Dinosaurs
The very idea of dragons has terrified people of vast and disparate cultures, all the way from China to North America, and possibly also Australia and South America. There are several explanations for their origins, the first of which is that they were imagined from recovered dinosaur fossils. Considering how large some of these gargantuan beasts were – sometimes 30 feet long or more – one can easily imagine how the discovery of a fossil might inspire fear.
Another explanation is that the Nile crocodile, which can grow to be 18 feet long and raise its trunk off the ground, may have migrated across the Mediterranean and gone as far as Europe. Perhaps some Europeans spotted the terrifying creatures, which have been known to eat people, and created the myth of the dragon.
In Australia, the goanna or another large lizard, like the Komodo dragon, may be responsible for the dragon myth. These giant lizards have a venomous bite that can severely infect a wound.
Another possible explanation is that whale bones, not known to earlier humans to actually be inhabitants of the sea, were believed to belong to fire-breathing predators. Seeing as whales spend most of their time underwater, their existence was not well-understood until more recently.
Finally, some believe that the myth of the dragon originated within the human brain, which is evolved to fear predators. The legend is so universal because local folklore merged with this primal fear.
