January 23, 2012 begins the
Chinese `Year of the Dragon``. In the
Chinese 12 year cycle of zodiac years, the dragon is the only animal that is legendary—all
of the other icons are known, and rather benign, animals and birds. Additionally, this is the year of the Water
Dragon.
A legend explains the sequence in
which the animals were assigned. Supposedly, the 12 animals fought over the
precedence of the animals in the cycle of years in the calendar, so the Chinese
gods held a contest to determine the order. All the animals lined up on the
bank of a river and were given the task of getting to the opposite shore. Their
order in the calendar would be set by the order in which the animals managed to
reach the other side. The dragon came in fifth, so is fifth in the 12 year
cycle.
Dragon – 龍 / 龙 (辰)
(Yang, 1st Trine, Fixed Element Wood): Magnanimous, stately, vigorous, strong,
self-assured, proud, noble, direct, dignified, eccentric, intellectual, fiery,
passionate, decisive, pioneering, artistic, generous, loyal. Can be tactless,
arrogant, imperious, tyrannical, demanding, intolerant, dogmatic, violent,
impetuous, brash.
In Chinese mythology and
folklore, there are many dragon tales.
About 5,000 years ago, when tribes were fighting one another. The tribe
of the Yellow Emperor fought and won wars over other tribes and combined the
totems, including the phoenix, the lion, the snake, the scorpion and the tiger,
to form the dragon totem. "So that's why when you look at the dragon
claws, they are like claws of the lions and tigers mixed. The tail is almost
like a scorpion. The body is like a snake being flexible … and the head would
be just like the big lion head," says Paul Ng, a feng shui master in
Richmond Hill, Ontario. "In other words, they combined totems of many
powerful animals into one that flies like the fiery bird, the phoenix. It's
quite a mixed basket. It incorporates the most powerful things of all kinds of
creatures into one. That's why people love it, because if you're a dragon,
you're everything." This belief is
so prevalent that many Asians try to be married or have a child during dragon
years
Chinese water dragons began
picking up momentum as pets about 1995. They
originate from southern China, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. Over the years
there has been an increase in captive breeding by private owners. If they are well taken care of, green water
dragons can live up to 16 years. Adult
males grow to 3 feet; females measure approximately 2 feet. The tail is flattened,
banded brown and green, and ends in a point
The tail makes up 75 percent of their length. Water dragons have well-developed legs and
the front legs climb and grasp branches, while the muscular back legs aid in
climbing and swimming. Water dragons
also jump and can run very quickly, often just using their hind legs.
In Canada, dragons tend to be of
the fruit or boat variety. Some say that
in Keppenfelt Bay, near Barrie, Ontario, there may be a sort of dragon in the
water. Many zoologist and other
specialists in aquatics label reported unusual animals in Canadian lakes and
streams as `Chinese Water Dragons`.
Doing so, however, is a clear sign that the source is not knowledgeable
about such things. Chinese water dragons
(Physignathus cocincinus) only grow to about three feet, and while their name
might suggest they are aquatic, most of their time is spent on land. They are called water dragons because they
live near the water, not in it.
Dragons are favorites in
mythology. We’ve tamed and captured
them, ridden them across the sky, and saved damsels from their fiery breath. Early science documented them as follows:
Scientific Description 1658
“
There be some dragons which have wings and no feet, some again have both feet
and wings, and some neither feet nor wings, but are only distinguished from the
common sort of Serpents by the comb growing upon their heads, and the beard
under their cheeks. Gyllius, Pierius, and Gervinus . . . do affirm that a
Dragon is of a black colour, the belly somewhat green, and very beautiful to
behold, having a treble row of teeth in their mouths upon every jaw, and with
most bright and clear-seeing eyes, which caused the Poets to say in their
writings that these dragons are the watchful keepers of Treasures. They have
also two dewlaps growing under their chin, and hanging down like a beard, which
are of a red colour: their bodies are set all over with very sharp scales, and
over their eyes stand certain flexible eyelids. When they gape wide with their
mouth, and thrust forth their tongue, their teeth seem very much to resemble
the teeth of wild Swine: And their necks have many times gross thick hair
growing upon them, much like unto the bristles of a wild Boar.
Their mouth, (especially of the
most tamable Dragons) is but little, not much bigger than a pipe, through which
they draw in their breath, for they wound not with their mouth, but with their
tails, only beating with them when they are angry. But the Indian, Ethiopian,
and Phrygian dragons have very wide mouths, through which they often swallow in
whole fowls and beasts. Their tongue is cloven as it were double, and the
Investigators of nature do say that they have fifteen teeth of a side. The
males have combs on their heads, but the females have none, and they are
likewise distinguished by their beards.” - Historie of Foure-Footed Beasts (1658) By: Edward Topsell
It does seem unlikely that these
sorts of mythological, flying, fire breathing dragons ever existed. Biologically, no animal can create fire in
its mouth. Certainly beings of the size
in folklore would not be able to fly. An animal the size of a classical dragon
would require wings so large that it couldn’t flap them! Of course the final “nail in the coffin” of
dragon lore is that there have never been fossil/skeletal remains found. It would be easy to stamp the case as closed
based on those facts alone.
Historically, however, dragons
exist in many cultures. There are logs
and records that turn up in different cultures all over the ancient world, and
with the same features and attributes. If such a creature did not ever exist, why
do all the pictures, paintings, carvings, embroideries, and descriptions match
even though those cultures did not communicate at the time? From thousands of
years ago until just a few hundred years ago, they have been cited and
described in detail by people from New Zealand to the Inuit of northern Canada. Marco Polo noted in his records of his trips
to China that the royal family kept dragons for ceremonies.
A researcher who was looking into
the municipal records of a small village in ancient China, noted how there was
casual mention of dragons quite often. He cited one case where an outlying
village had been bothered by a bear, and so the leader of the main town took
some hunters on a two week excursion to kill it. About a kilometer down the road,
they were attacked by a dragon. They killed
it with spear and arrows, but since there were just heading out they decided
not to carry the carcass with them. By the time they came that way again, 2
weeks later, the dragon’s body had deteriorated badly so they left it
permanently. It became a marker on the road telling travellers how far they
were from town. Over the course of the next few months, it quickly dissolved. Within 2 years, the bones themselves had
dissolved as well and no skeleton remained.
Biologists researched and analysed the stories and determined that there
are certain metabolic processes that could create acids that would dissolve the
tissues like that even after death. These acids would be produced along with
certain gases, specifically hydrogen.
One expert biologist who has
speculated on the subject of whether dragons were real is Dr. Peter Hogarth,
Senior Biologist of the University of York, in the UK. He is considered the
world’s foremost authority on the real-life possibility of dragons. Dr. Hogarth
and other biologists determined that an animal could conceivably have 4
stomachs like a cow, but generate gases in them that would create enough
buoyancy to help lift the animal into the air, almost like a balloon, as some
birds have. This would allow the animal to have shorter, smaller wings since
they didn’t have to work as hard to lift the entire weight of the animal. The
wings would mostly be used to take off and maneuver which reduces the size
necessary to within more reasonable limits.
Hydrogen, when mixed with
platinum powder, and oxygen of the air, will ignite into flames at room
temperature. Scientists postulate that when
the creature needed to dive to attack, it would have to expel some of its
gasses in order to reduce buoyancy. Expelling gasses would have meant igniting
into flames from the mouth.
Additionally, some animals are quite resistant to flame (and radiation
and other things) so it is conceivable that the dragon, if it “breathed fire”
would not burn itself.
“Super-rats” of South America and
India became resistant to fire when they burned the sugar cane fields. They
also became resistant to poisons, and virtually every method devised to kill
them except hitting them with a club. Resistance to heat and flame is evolutionarily
possible and even pre-existent in other species. The Pompeii worm, (Alvinella
pompejana) discovered in 1980, can tolerate water temperatures of up to 80
degrees centigrade.
The same metabolism that would
create hydrogen in internal sacs, which would also create fire when expelled
and mixed with air, is also highly caustic.
These natural acids would dissolve the body and skeleton quickly.
From a Cryptological standpoint,
perhaps this “Year of the Dragon” will bring new discoveries. May the Jade Emperor bless you and yours and reveal his secrets to all who are
searching.
新年快乐
The 500-million-year-old hurdia
victoria, a sea creature, was initially recovered from Yoho National Park,
near Field, B.C. by American paleontologist Charles Walcott in 1909. Included in the find was a mysterious carapace
(upper part of the exoskeleton) which Walcott recognized as that of a crustacean. The fossils were eventually packed up and
shipped to the ROM, where they floundered for quite some time.
Walcott’s misidentification remained intact until the 1960’s. Alberto Simonetta, an Italian paleontologist,
reinvestigated the Burgess Shale and was able to convince the scientific
community that there were many more artifacts, and that Walcott’s
identifications were incorrect. Harry
Blackmore Whittington, with the help of research students Derek Briggs and
Simon Conway Morris of the University of Cambridge, reassessed the deposits and
revealed that the fauna represented were much more diverse than Walcott had
recognized. Many of the animals present
had bizarre anatomical features. Some of
the new animals were the Opabinia, with five eyes and a snout like a vacuum
cleaner hose and the Hallucigenia, which walked on bilateral spines.
