A dragon owes its ability to fly, and its flight characteristics, to its peculiar anatomy and metabolism. a dragon weighs much less than a strictly terrestial creature of the same size, and its muscles-particuarly the ones that enable it to fly-are exeptionaly strong, giving the dragon's wings enoough power to lift it into the air.

A dragon's biggest problem in flight is just getting aloft. Given a chance, a dragon pefers to launch itself from a height, where it can gain speed by diving initially. Failing that, a tragon takes flight by leaping into the air, giving itself a boost by snapping its tail downward and pushing off with its hind legs.

Once airborn, a dragon stays aloft with deceptively slow and steady wing beats. The wings develope tremendous lift and thrust on each stroke, allowing the dragon to coast for brief periods. To further conserve energy in flight, a dragon makes use of any updrafts it can find. Under the right conditions, a dragon can soar for hours with little effort. A dragon attempting to fly a long distance usually begings by finding an updraft and spiraling upward to a comfortable altitude, then soaring from one updraft to another. Dragons can quickly cover great distances in this manner.

A dragon in straight and level flight holds its body fairly straight, with its neck and tail extended, its front legs tucked under its chest, and its rear legs






True Dragons