Did dragons ever exist?

In the folklore and legends of countries all over the world, there are tales of great and horrible dragons.

They were pictured as huge, snakelike monsters frightful to behold. They had bulging eyes, their nostrils spouted flames, and their roar was so great they caused the earth to tremble.

One of the most famous of these ancient dragons was the Hydra, which had nine heads! it devoured many beautiful young girls before it was slain by Hercules. Another famous dragon was the Chimera, a fire-breathing monster that met its death at the hands of a young warrior, Bellerophon, who was helped by his winged steed, Pegasus.

Many dragons were supposed to be guarding great trea­sures. The Golden Fleece was guarded by a dragon with a hundred eyes! In other cases, great heroes always fought battles with dragons.

Although the dragon usually represents the spirit of evil, it has also been used as a symbol of protection. The early warriors painted fierce dragons on their shields to frighten away enemies.

People at one time actually did believe that dragons exist­ed. For example, before the time of Columbus, sailors used to be afraid to venture into unknown seas because they be­lieved huge dragons would swallow up the ships and men.

Of course, dragons never existed except in legends, myths, and fairy tales. Then why did the belief in them arise? In prehistoric times, all kinds of huge reptiles roamed the Earth. The most terrifying of these beasts, the dinosaur, lived long before man appeared on the Earth. But it is possible that during the time of the cavemen some reptiles of great size still survived, and from this came the legends of the dragons.

How do we know what dinosaurs were like?

Scientists believe that dinosaurs first appeared on the Earth about 180 million years ago, and died out about 60 million years ago. This. is long before human beings appeared on Earth, and also before such animals as dogs, rabbits, horses, monkeys, or elephants. Then how can we possibly know any­thing about these giant creatures?

Everything we know about dinosaurs and everything we will ever know - comes from fossils. These are remains, which these creatures left in the Earth. But there are many different kinds of fossils.

The most common fossils are petrified remains of what were the hard parts of their bodies - bones, teeth, and claws. Scientists can study these remains and from them reconstruct how the whole body of the dinosaur was built!

Sometimes, petrified tendons and skin are found, and this provides even more clues. Fossils can also be trails or footprints that were made in wet sand or mud that hardened into stone over the ages. From these, it is possible to tell how the dinosaurs walked and whether it was on two legs or four. And the rarest fossils of all from this time are dinosaur eggs.

In this way we can tell that the Brontosaurus was a monster from 70 to 80 feet long and weighed about 38 tons. We know it lived in swamps and was a plant-eater. And we also know that a dinosaur called Allosaurus had sharp teeth and powerful claws and it fed upon Brontosaurus and other plant-eaters. You see, scientists have found, among the broken and deeply scratched bones of Brontosaurus - fossil teeth of the Allosaurus!