Dragons can't have existed. Heck, there are too many differences between their varying mythological forms for them to have even possibly existed
European ones are classic symbols of evil, and resemble snakes in general form. And no, not all European dragons breathed fire or had four legs, or had wings. They're pretty much a conglamate of snakes, bats and lizards, which were all seen as evil
Eastern ones are symbols of good and royalty, and are far more serpentine than their western counterparts. And in some places (China) they're grouped with things like phoenixes, and I don't see anyone debating whether phoenixes existed :|
And that's just their evolved modern day counterparts. The Loch Ness Monster has been traditionally seen as a kelpie, a water horse, not a plesiosaur. That new train of thought only started in the last 100 years or so
So no, dragons didn't exist. The closest things would have been the larger flying pterosaurs, that all became extinct millenia before humans even came into being
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I believe that there are too many dragon references in nearly every culture on earth for it to be mere myth.
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... References which are largely incompatible with each other. Seriously, creatures of pure evil in European myths are supposed to be bearers of good luck and royalty in eastern kingdoms?
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Nature has created some interesting creations. If she can make a bug that squirts a superheated liquid from its ass, then why not fire breathing?
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Because giant lizards are designed to be pure specialised predators of simularly large prey, while insects are evolution's greatest achievement?
Seriously, look at all of the large predators in history. The only ones that actually flew were a few eagles in New Zealand, while everywhere else in the world land-based animals were dominant. There's a reason that pterosaurs were generally seen as scavengers and fishers