Dragons are giant winged, fire-breathing reptilian creatures. Widely regarded as terrifying yet awe-inspiring, they can be found all over the world and are frequently referred to in Asian and medieval European folklore.
Able to fly and breathe fire through their nostrils and mouths, they are one of the most dangerous and hardest to conceal creatures in the wizarding world. The Ministry of Magic classifies them as XXXXX, known wizard killers that are impossible to train or domesticate. Despite how dangerous they are, there are people who are trained to work with them, called dragon keepers, or dragonologists. A wizard who trades and sells dragon eggs (which is an illegal activity) is referred to as a dragon dealer.
Description[]
Early life[]
Dragon mothers breathe fire on their eggs to keep them warm. They do not keep their eggs in nests. The dragon's first fire breaths, usually accompanied by thick grey smoke, appear when the dragon is around six months old. However, the ability to fly is normally developed later, at around twelve months, and the dragon will not be fully mature until it is two years old and ready to live on its own. Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit states that you are to feed a baby dragon a bucket of brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour.
Social behaviour[]
Not much is known about dragon behaviour, however it seems that, at least with the Chinese Fireball, females are generally larger and dominant over males. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them states that sometimes females oust males from their territories, at least with the Antipodean Opaleye.
Dragons are generally highly aggressive towards anything, even wizards, and will sometimes attack humans without provocation, such as in the case of the Ilfracombe Incident.
History[]
Dragons in the wizarding world[]
Known breeds[]
There is no officially sanctioned breeding of dragons, as dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709. However, they have been known to interbreed, producing rare hybrids. Below is a list of the ten known pure-bred breeds of dragons according to the fifty-second edition of Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them:
| Breed | Image | Description |
|---|---|---|
| American Greenhorn (one of the fiercest, but most noble dragons) | 
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Native to North America, the Greenhorn was one of the newly discovered dragons in the Americas. |
| Antipodean Opaleye | 
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Native to New Zealand, the Opaleye is generally considered one of the most beautiful dragons, with pearly scales that line its body, and glittering multi-coloured eyes that have no pupils. |
| Atlantic Aquawyrm | 
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The Aquawyrm was specially adapted underwater, with illuminating blue scales whch help it to camouflage. |
| Chinese Fireball (known as "Lion Dragon") | 
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The Fireball is scarlet and smooth scaled with a fringe of golden spikes around its snub-snouted face and extremely protuberant eyes. |
| Common Welsh Green (a native dragon of Great Britain) | 
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The common Welsh is green in colour and with two spiked horns that reside on top of its head. The tail is vert stream-line with a single pointed tip at the end. |
| Hebridean Black (the other native dragon of Great Britain) | 
|
It has dark rough scales, ridges along its back, and a tail tipped with an arrow-shaped spike. The Hebridean Black has brilliant purple eyes and can grow to be up to thirty feet long. |
| Hungarian Horntail (considered to be the most dangerous dragon) | 
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It has black scales, and is lizard-like in appearance. It also has yellow eyes, bronze horns and similarly coloured spikes that protrude from its long tail. |
| Latino Diablo | 
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The Diablo is know for its exothermic scales, which absorbs fire to enhance its own fire breath. |
| Norwegian Ridgeback |   |
It resembles the Hungarian Horntail, except for the black ridges on its back, the browner texture in its scales. |
| Peruvian Vipertooth (a highly venomous dragon) | 
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Its scales are smooth and copper-coloured. It also has black ridge-markings and short horns on its head. |
| Romanian Longhorn | 
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The Romanian Longhorn has dark green scales, and two long, glittering golden horns. |
| Swedish Short-Snout | 
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The scales are silvery blue, and its powerful flame is also a brilliant blue colour — and hot enough to reduce timber and bone to ashes in seconds |
| Ukrainian Ironbelly (the largest dragon breed ever recorded) |   |
It is a bipedal breed, metallic grey in colour, with an immense wingspan, long talons and rough scales said to be as hard as steel. It is the largest breed of dragon which reaches up to six tonnes, and its eyes are deep red. Sometimes the eyes seem to be the same colour as its body because of a protective scale. |
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