Question of the Day, July 21, 2010

[interspark]

ok, lets see

dragons
flying lizards, its been done
creatures that can produce fire and use it as a weapon, also exists

griffons
the shape is a bit unconventional but other than that i suppose a feline with wings could well work

unicorns
horses with horns, it isnt rocket science, im sure evolution could manage

 

[interspark]

Unicorns: Yes, but without the magical powers

I doubt Dragons as we know them could exist, but a huge flying lizard could. Not sure about fire though.

I dont know about griffens. Eagal with four legs?

there are insects that can use their own pee as a flamethrower so i dont see why it couldnt work on a larger scale, obviously though, to produce the kind of fire dragons in films use, theyd have to recharge for hours between uses (scientifically speaking)

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Dragons: Pretty easy, we already have the Komodo dragons, and Terry Pratchet's dragons in Discworld would have been roughly how they ended up. Huge acid stomachs creating hydrogen to lift their hollow bones, and their breath would have been a methane/hydrogen mix. Pteranodons were almost Dragons anyway.

Unicorns: More difficult. The horn on the top of the horses head would have needed a huge bone/muscle buffer to act as a weapon of any sort; but the rhino fulfils that evoloutionary tract.

Griffins...No.

Sorry, but Eagle/Lion crossbreeds couldn't happen. Even the closest we have:

Spoiler: Warning: Dead animal

is just a rodent crossbreed with a birds bill.

Cryptozoology can produce some distortions of nature; but flight-muscle and lungsize tend to kill off most of the bigger things. Even humans are restricted to about 7-8 feet before we collapse on ourselves.

 

[secretshadow90]

It's actually totally possibly for unicorns to evolve at some point, as they're basically horses with horns. As discussed in the evolution class I took to fulfill a college requirement, if horses ever needed a horn for their survival, evolution would kick in and, tada!, unicorns! The others would be possible (dragons more so than griffins) but would be harder to obtain as those organism just given their size would have a hard time finding their food supply.

 

[JediMB]

The unicorn seems possible. The dragon and griffin... not so much.

 

[Dorian]

Unicorns make the most sense to me, really. Take a horse, make them aggressive, and stick a horn on their skull so they can REALLY hurt things by ramming them.

Dragons? Ever hear of the dinosaurs? Besides, I don't think it isn't TOO much of a stretch of sticking wings on a lizard larger than an iguana.

Griffons sound kinda iffy. Mostly because it's a flying platypus, really. But I can imagine that a bird had ruffly feathers for warmth, four limbs to claw the everloving crap out of things, and wings on its back. Sure, the arm-wing-shoulder thing would be pretty tricky from an anatomical view, but it seems feasible.

I'm going with yes.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Well...except for the fire breathing...burning acid breath maybe?

There are insects that spew acid...

And why not fire breathing too. It's just that we usually spew our flammable gasses out our other ends.

Nature's weird. I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[JediMB]

As discussed in the evolution class I took to fulfill a college requirement, if horses ever needed a horn for their survival, evolution would kick in and, tada!, unicorns!

That's not really how evolution works. More likely, if horses ever needed a horn for their survival, they'd all die.

 

[AngryMongoose]

If by unicorns you mean horses with horns, then yes, that's perfectly reaonably. If you mean magical horses with horns, which may or may not be invisible, and drinking from who's horns will grant you immortality, then no.

As for Dragons and Griffins, the way we imagine them, there's no way they could fly.

Though I could imagine a very small dragon flying, and I can just about imagine a creature breathing fire (though the process in which nature would produce such a creature would be insane) there's no way evolution could produce both in one creature. Look at birds and you'll see how much it takes to get a creature to actually fly.

 

[Saul B]

Sure, why not? Deer have antlers, a unicorn would just be a horned horse! Dragons? less likely. Possibly fliying lizards but no fire-breath unfortunately.

 

[Generic_Dave]

Well...except for the fire breathing...burning acid breath maybe?

There are insects that spew acid...

And why not fire breathing too. It's just that we usually spew our flammable gasses out our other ends.

Nature's weird. I wouldn't be surprised.

Well I suppose the question is how to start the combustion...I mean a biological system producing a flammable liquid is possible...but without a proverbial match...but then again,
life finds a way...

 

[secretshadow90]

As discussed in the evolution class I took to fulfill a college requirement, if horses ever needed a horn for their survival, evolution would kick in and, tada!, unicorns!

That's not really how evolution works. More likely, if horses ever needed a horn for their survival, they'd all die.

I was just being simple and quick. There's a lot that goes into evolution. But unicorns are still the most possible of all mythical creatures. If a random genetic mutation in a horse caused it to have a horn and it proved beneficial to it's survival the more likely the trait will be passed on and eventually we will have at least a very small population of unicorns. I didn't feel like going into the exact science and duplication of the conversation I had about a year ago in a class. And if what you said was true, there probably wouldn't be narwhals.

 

[Requx]

You forgot to mention platypusses...those are the strongest creatures of myth

 

[PrototypeC]

Hell no, there's no evolutionary advantage to any of these creatures, save unicorns. But... that's what we have genetics testing for!

 

[Marter]

I doubt it. Especially on the part of Dragons, unless we are talking ones that cannot breathe fire. In that case, it's not really a dragon.

 

[Doom moose]

this question seems flawed to me and shows a misunderstanding of evolution, its based on a response to the envioronment and so in theory while these creatures could exist its unlikly since they are not addapted for anything in our environment

 

[blalien]

What the hell kind of stupid question is this? First of all, the two answers aren't mutually exclusive. Dragons, unicorns, and griffins are made-man creatures, and they might have evolved if the environment were different.

As for whether they could have evolved? I don't know, I ain't a biologist. But I would be skeptical that nature could produce a creature that can produce and exhale fire.

 

[Nenad]

How am I suppose to know that? I'm no biologist!

But I voted 'Yes' because that's how much I want to believe that dragons could exist.

 

[Draithx]

I'd say no to them existing because of evolution. They are all magical beings and some of their magical abilities wouldn't simply exist because of evolution.
Ofcourse, it's always possible that those magical creatures do exist somewhere.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

Unicorns, possibly. Dragons already exist. But gryphons? Ah... no. Half-mammal, half-avian, large enough to ride but capable of flight? You might as well hope for a manticore.