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Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Monday, November 08, 2010

RAHEEL MUGHAL: The DRACO Classification System: A Different Approach to Categorising Alleged Dragon Sightings

It is always a great pleasure to have a new author on the blog. Today I am pleased to introduce you to Raheel Mughal from the West Midlands, who - as well as his hopefully regular blog postings - is working on a book The Mystery Animals of Pakistan for CFZ Press....


Dragons are clearly not the stuff of legend. The dragon has been around in some form since antiquity, as Richard Freeman’s excellent book Dragons: More than a Myth shows. Nevertheless, the dragon phenomenon has manifested itself in a number of distinct forms, be they flesh and blood or supernatural in composition. The following study is essentially an extension of Richard Freeman’s brilliant research, and attempts to classify the dragon into several distinct but similar categories. I have also included a brief discussion of the particular categories along with some familiar, or in some cases less familiar, cryptids to illustrate the dragon type in question. The DRACO name is a play on the latin reference to dragons.

Dragonesque Dragons
These include dragon-like or dragonesque reptilian-looking creatures that superficially resemble dragons but might not be dragons on closer inspection. In Medieval times it could be possible that seemingly known creatures such as the sturgeon, Wells catfish, oarfish or large eels were given monstrous reputations by superstitious people.

Real Dragons
These dragons include the larger than life relatives (at 25-30ft) of the infamous Komodo dragon, and includes such characters such as the megalania or megalania-like giant reptiles reported from the Australasian region, including Papua New Guinea (Lake Murray) and Australia (giant lizards seen in and around the Grampian Mountains and Wattagan Mountains of New South Wales, respectively). In addition, the Kumi lizard of New Zealand was feared by the Maori and early settlers for its stealthy arboreal-based attacks on humans and livestock that strayed close to its domain.

Moreover, the Mokele Mbembe of the Lake Tele region of the Congo and surrounding tributaries of the Cameroons may be a large herbivorous dragon rather than a sauropod dinosaur. A point that can be used to lend credence to this idea is the Sirrush of the Ishtar Gates of Babylon. This creature is depicted alongside familiar animals that inhabited the Babylonian region alongside humans. Is it possible that a Mokele Mbembe could have been exported there as a gift to the queen? The Sirrush, if it really existed, does have a more than familiar appearance to a large monitor lizard rather than a sauropod dinosaur.


In Europe too there have been reports of large monitor-lizard-type creatures for centuries. The Lindworms (of which the Tazletwurm is a smaller variety) have been reported, though no recent sightings have emerged from this region; if it did exist it is probably extinct now. There was a spate of sightings in Italy during the early twentieth century of the Goro lizard. Similar in size to the afore-mentioned Australasian dragons, these reptilian oddities were even said to sport fur or hair, an implausible visage for a reptile.

Aerial Dragons
This category includes flying serpentine reptiles, which to a casual observer, may seem like dragons. These have also been seen over the centuries and describe more or less the same kind of animal. Sightings of flying dragons have been reported from Tanzania, Namibia, East Africa, Madagascar, the Arabian Sea and South America, among other locations.

Crocodilyoform Dragons
These dragons may possibly explain the lake monster and sea serpent phenomena. In Dragons: More than a Myth Richard Freeman suggested that certain lake monsters and/or sea serpents may constitute a relic population of elongated marine reptile from the late Cretaceous period – 65 million years ago. He suggested either Thallatusuchian crocodiles or mosasaurs (the apex predators of the Cretaceous). I also believe that at least one marine saurian may have survived the extinction 65 million years ago.


Here are a few lesser-known lake monster sightings that lend support to this view. Moreover, there are many reports on file that without doubt describe saurian sea creatures exhibiting features impossible for mammals or fish to emulate.


For instance, in 1934 at Campbell Lake, South Dakota, a farmer saw a giant four-legged dragon-like creature; there were many reports from around the area of animals and livestock disappearing round the lake. The farmer found huge tracks in the mud leading to the lake. Other similar sightings have been reported over the years by credible eyewitnesses.

At Menbu Lake in China during the 1980s there were many reports by terrified locals (as well as visitors to the region soon after) of a large, black dragon-like creature with an elongated neck and a dog's head. Animals had been vanishing near the lake, and many people claimed that they saw the creature snatch them and take them back to the lake. One man who was boating on the lake claimed that one day he was nearly pulled underwater by something large.


Occult Dragons
This category includes a diverse range of similar dragon-like beings reported from around the world and associated with many religions and cults. This category clearly contains many zoomorphic entities such as the Naga, which seem to bridge the gap with other seemingly paranormal topics. Examples of occult dragons include but are not limited to:



  • The Piasa Bird of the Amerindians of the Missouri River, Alton, Illinois,

  • Quetzalcoatl, the feathered-serpent deity of the Aztecs,

  • The Ninki Nanka of the Gambia,

  • The Chinese Elemental Dragons associated with the elements: Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Metal,

  • The Persian Dragons of the Islamic Unseen World of Qaf,

  • The Naga: snake-like humanoids that were said to have brought Science and Mathematics to humanity; they are said to be benevolent and kind-hearted towards humans,

  • The Rainbow Serpent of Native Australian mythology.

5 comments:

Zeeshan Ahmed said...

Awesome article ! Really liked it ! Well done !

Zeeshan Ahmed said...

Awesome article. Really liked it. Dragons have always interested me.
Well done.

Dr Karl Shuker said...

Hi Raheel,

Great article, well done! In my book Dragons: A Natural History (1995), I too devised my own dragon classification system, which I based upon physical types of dragons. Namely, worms and orms (limbless, wingless, serpentiform dragons), lindorms (two-limbed, wingless dragons), wyverns (two-limbed, winged dragons), Western dragons (four-limbed, winged dragons - though I would now term these firedrakes, to distinguish them from four-limbed, wingless dragons, which seem only to be called dragons), amphipteres (limbless, winged dragons), Eastern dragons, and neo-dragons (dragon-related reptilian monsters such as basilisk, cockatrice, hydra, tarasque, shaggy beast or peluda, salamander, etc).

I agree with your idea that perhaps the sirrush is based upon a living mokele-mbembe brought back to Babylon from tropical Africa, and have discussed this in detail in my Prehistoric Survivors book - ditto with the idea that perhaps the biblical Leviathan was based upon a living mosasaur.

Excellent, thought-provoking article, Raheel, and I look forward to many more by you, as well as your Pakistan cryptids book!

All the best,

Karl

mohammad said...

It is a great article.Raheel you have presented a unique classification. well done.
All the best.
Sajjad

Sam said...

Dr. Shuker,
I read that book! I loved it. It's great to read such a detailed investigation into dragon mythology.