Dragons in zoology, cryptozoology, and culture

Of all the countless legendary beasts that have been conjured forth from the seemingly limitless capacity of the human imagination, none can remotely compare with the dragon for its sheer diversity of form, its symbolic significance, and its cross-cultural presence. Dragons are everywhere-still glimpsed in the living, breathing beasts around us that inspired and engendered their birth in our far-distant ancestors' dreams, and nightmares; perennially encountered in the myriad of traditional myths and folklore woven into the fabric of every creed and culture around the world; and ever-visible within the innumerable outpourings of artistic creation that have graced and enhanced our species' existence across all temporal, political, social, and geographical boundaries. So from where, and from what, has such widespread-indeed, worldwide-belief in these creatures stemmed? There can be no doubt that a major factor influencing the origin of the dragon is early humanity's observations and interactions with various distinctive and potentially inimical creatures of reality sharing our world. Equally thought-provoking is how and why the dragon has become so intimately associated with our own species. This multi-faceted monster of mythology is more than amply represented visually, for example, by artwork of every conceivable style, age, and category.