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deathtocapslock Race #7
Peruvian Vipertooth
So, now we’ve got a South American dragon. Still missing North America, Africa, Antarctica....
This is a particularly small and fast dragon with venomous fangs. It’s mostly brown, with black markings. Like most dragons, it eats larger land mammals but, once again, it loves to heat humans. So much so that experts have occasionally been called in to reduce their numbers.
It begs the question: does anything eat dragons? Exactly what keeps dragon populations in check? In fact, the same goes for any magical creature. What is it that stops these creatures from expanding in numbers and taking over everything in the areas where they live?
Peruvian Vipertooth
So, now we’ve got a South American dragon. Still missing North America, Africa, Antarctica....
This is a particularly small and fast dragon with venomous fangs. It’s mostly brown, with black markings. Like most dragons, it eats larger land mammals but, once again, it loves to heat humans. So much so that experts have occasionally been called in to reduce their numbers.
It begs the question: does anything eat dragons? Exactly what keeps dragon populations in check? In fact, the same goes for any magical creature. What is it that stops these creatures from expanding in numbers and taking over everything in the areas where they live?
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Date: 2011-08-14 09:36 pm (UTC)To be fair to JKR dragons don't play a big part in African folkore as far as I know - unlike European and Asian myths - so a lack of African dragons makes sense. They have the nundu instead ^^
Dragons would be apex-predators I think. As such their population would be kept in check by slow growth and late sexual maturity to go with the long life spans, few young, amount of available prey and/or territory and their aggression against each other. It's possible they also prey on smaller/weaker members of their own species, many apex-predators do. And of course theyr'e hunted by (magical) humans, though we don't know how frequently and with what intensity: given JKR's usual attitude towards animals likely rather extensively and ruthlessly. So that the Weasley twins can have matching tasteless toxic green leather jackets for instance >_<
JKR gave most subspecies a high aggression against other dragons, both within their own subspecies and towards others in general, if I remember right, so the populations might be kept small by themselves.