Curious About Dragons

PODCAST 114: CURIOUS ABOUT DRAGONS

RELEASE DATE:  DECEMBER 5TH, 2020

CURIOUS KID PODCAST THEME MUSIC

D:  HELLO, AND WELCOME BACK TO THE CURIOUS KID PODCAST.  THIS WEEK, WE ARE GETTING CURIOUS ABOUT A MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURE THAT OUR LISTENERS HAVE ASKED US TO GET CURIOUS ABOUT BY E-MAIL AND ON FACEBOOK.

O:  MAILBAG!

D:  MAILBAG!

“HELLO, WE LOVE LISTENING TO YOUR PODCASTS.  MY NAME IS NATHAN AND I’M 5.  AND THIS IS MY VERY FIRST E-MAIL I AM SENDING.  CAN YOU GET CURIOUS ABOUT DRAGONS OR MICE?  THANK YOU, NATHAN.”

O:  NATHAN, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SENDING YOUR FIRST EVER E-MAIL TO US.  WE ARE GETTING CURIOUS ABOUT DRAGONS FOR YOU.

D:  WE ALSO HAVE A LISTENER BY THE NAME OF RIVER THAT LEFT US A MESSAGE ON FACEBOOK AROUND THIS TIME LAST YEAR THAT SAYS “WHERE DOES THE LEGEND OF DRAGONS COME FROM AND WHY DO SOME HAVE HORNS AND SOME HAVE WINGS?”

O:  THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE FACEBOOK MESSAGE, RIVER.  YOUR NAME IS AWESOME.

D:  WE LOVE THE NAME RIVER, AND WE ALSO LOVE THE NAME NATHAN.  NATHAN JUST HAPPENS TO BE MY MIDDLE NAME.  OKAY, LET’S START LEARNING ABOUT DRAGONS FOR NATHAN AND RIVER.  WHAT’S THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK?

O:  THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK IS, IN WHAT MOVIE DID A DRAGON BY THE NAME OF TOOTHLESS APPEAR?

D:  THE DRAGON TOOTHLESS APPEARS IN AN ANIMATED MOVIE THAT CAME OUT 10 YEARS AGO AND WAS VERY POPULAR.  THERE WAS A CHARACTER BY THE NAME OF HICCUP, WHO BECAME FRIENDLY WITH THE DRAGON TOOTHLESS.  CAN YOU NAME THE MOVIE?  OKAY, THE WORD DRAGON COMES FROM LATIN AND GREEK.

O:  IN LATIN, DRACONEM MEANS “HUGE SERPENT”.  IN GREEK, DRAKON MEANS “SERPENT”.  

D:  A SERPENT USUALLY REFERS TO A SNAKE.  IN SOME PLACES, DRAGONS LOOK LIKE HUMUNGOUS SNAKES.  IN OTHER PLACES, DRAGONS LOOK QUITE DIFFERENT.  OLIVIA, WHEN YOU THINK OF DRAGONS, WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE?

O:  ————————————————.

D:  YOUR DESCRIPTION OF A DRAGON CLOSELY RESEMBLES A WESTERN DRAGON.  YOU CAN FIND SO MANY DIFFERENT DEPICTIONS OF WHAT DRAGONS LOOK LIKE IN STORIES, IN ART, AND IN MOVIES, BUT THEY CAN ESSENTIALLY BE SPLIT INTO 2 CATEGORIES:  WESTERN DRAGONS AND EASTERN DRAGONS.  WESTERN DRAGONS ARE HUGE, THEY BREATHE FIRE, THEY FLY, THEY HAVE GREEN BODIES WITH SCALES LIKE A LIZARD AND LARGE RED WINGS.  THEY LIVE IN CAVES.  THEY ARE FIERCE AND MEAN.  

O:  EASTERN DRAGONS ARE SMALLER.  THEY HAVE LONG BODIES AND NO WINGS.  THEIR BREATH FORMS CLOUDS.  

D:  EASTERN DRAGONS ARE TOTALLY DIFFERENT THAN WESTERN DRAGONS.  THEY ARE KIND AND FRIENDLY WITH HUMAN BEINGS. 

O:  DO DRAGONS REALLY EXIST?

D:  THEY DON’T EXIST.  ANTHROPOLOGISTS BELIEVE THAT THE IDEA THAT DRAGONS EXIST CAME FROM THE DISCOVERY OF DINOSAUR FOSSILS AND THE FEAR PEOPLE HAVE OF SNAKES AND OTHER REPTILES.            

O:  DIFFERENT CULTURES HAVE VERY DIFFERENT VIEWS ON DRAGONS.

D:  ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENT GREEKS AND ROMANS, DRAGONS WERE EVIL.  THEY WERE ASSOCIATED WITH CHAOS AND HAD SUPERNATURAL POWERS.  IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE, DRAGONS WERE ALSO BAD NEWS AND PEOPLE BELIEVED THAT THEY DESTROYED VILLAGES WITHOUT MERCY.

O:  THE CHINESE DRAGON IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT.  IT IS A SYMBOL OF LUCK, POWER, AND STRENGTH.  

D:  IT IS, BUT NOT FOR EVERYONE… JUST FOR THOSE PEOPLE THAT DESERVE IT.  WHEN PEOPLE ARE RECOGNIZED FOR BIG ACHIEVEMENTS, THEY ARE OFTEN COMPARED TO DRAGONS IN CHINESE CULTURE.  ALTERNATIVELY, PEOPLE WHO SUFFER BIG FAILURE ARE COMPARED TO WORMS.  THE CHINESE DRAGON IS LONG, SNAKE LIKE, AND HAS FOUR LEGS.  THE CHINESE ALSO BELIEVE THAT DRAGONS CONTROL WATER AND CAN ORDER RAIN, FLOODS, OR TYPHOONS.

O:  THE JAPANESE ALSO BELIEVE THAT DRAGONS HAVE CONTROL OVER WATER.

D:  THAT’S TRUE, BUT THERE ARE A COUPLE OF DIFFERENCES.  AS FAR AS APPEARANCE GOES, JAPANESE DRAGONS HAVE THREE TOES ON EACH FOOT, WHEREAS CHINESE DRAGONS HAVE 4 OR 5. ALSO, CHINESE DRAGONS ARE A SYMBOL OF GOOD, WHEREAS JAPANESE DRAGONS CAN SOMETIMES BE EVIL.  THEY ARE CAPABLE OF BRINGING DESTRUCTION AND CAN BE SATISFIED WITH A GIFT OF PRECIOUS METAL AND SLAYED WITH METAL AS WELL.  

O:  IF DRAGONS DON’T EXIST, HOW ABOUT KOMODO DRAGONS?

D:  KOMODO DRAGONS ARE REAL.  IT IS A TYPE OF LIZARD THAT IS OFTEN FOUND IN INDONESIA.  

O:  IT IS THE LARGEST LIZARD IN THE WORLD AND CAN BE UP TO 10 FEET LONG AND 150 POUNDS.  

D:  KOMODO DRAGONS ARE VERY POWERFUL.  THEY HUNT BIRDS, INVERTEBRATES, AND MAMMALS.  THEIR BITE IS VENOMOUS AND CONTAINS HARMFUL THINGS LIKE ANTICOAGULANTS, WHICH CAN THIN THE BLOOD OF THEIR PREY.  KOMODO DRAGONS MAY BE THE CLOSEST THING WE HAVE TO DRAGONS THAT ACTUALLY EXIST.            

O:  A RED DRAGON CAN BE FOUND ON THE FLAG OF THE COUNTRY OF WALES.

D:  IT’S A BEAUTIFUL FLAG, FEATURING A RED DRAGON WITH A GREEN AND WHITE BACKGROUND.  LAST YEAR, IT WAS VOTED AS THE COOLEST FLAG IN THE WORLD.  IT COMES FROM A STORY IN THE 9TH CENTURY OF A BATTLE BETWEEN A RED AND WHITE DRAGON.  THE RED DRAGON IS VICTORIOUS IN THE STORY AND REPRESENTS THE PEOPLE OF WALES.    

O:  THERE IS EVEN A FLOWER CALLED A SNAPDRAGON THAT LOOKS LIKE THE HEAD OF A DRAGON.

D:  IF YOU GENTLY SQUEEZE THE SNAPDRAGON FLOWER FROM THE SIDES, IT REALLY RESEMBLES A DRAGON OPENING AND CLOSING IT’S MOUTH.  

O:  IF YOU REALLY LOVE DRAGONS, YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER GOING TO DRAGON-CON IN ATLANTA.  

D:  DRAGON-CON IS A FAN CONVENTION THAT HAS BEEN HELD IN ATLANTA, ON LABOR DAY WEEKEND, EVERY YEAR SINCE 1987.  TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ATTENDING IN RECENT YEARS.  THE EVENT FEATURES ART, AUTHORS, BOOKS, COSTUMES, SONGS, AND EVERYTHING DRAGON-RELATED.  ALRIGHT OLIVIA, LET’S ANSWER THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.  WHICH ANIMATED MOVIE DOES THE DRAGON TOOTHLESS APPEAR IN?

O:  TOOTHLESS APPEARS IN THE MOVIE “HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON”.  

D:  THE HERO IN THE MOVIE, HICCUP, GIVES THE DRAGON THE NAME TOOTHLESS BECAUSE HIS TEETH ARE RETRACTABLE, MEANING THAT THEY CAN COME OUT, BUT THEY CAN ALSO RETRACT BACK IN SO THEY AREN’T VISIBLE.

O:  TOOTHLESS WAS A GOOD DRAGON… HE WASN’T VERY SCARY.

D:  AND “HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON” WAS A GOOD MOVIE.  IT IS ONE OF THE FIRST MOVIES WE ENJOYED WATCHING AS A FAMILY WHILE WE WERE QUARANTINING IN THE SPRING.  WELL, THAT’S A WRAP FOR THIS WEEK’S EPISODE.

O:  114 - DRAGONS

D:  GREAT JOB OLIVIA, AND GREAT JOB NATHAN AND RIVER FOR THE WONDERFUL SUGGESTION.  THE HOLIDAYS ARE LESS THAN A MONTH AWAY AND WE HAVE SOME AWESOME CURIOUS KID PODCAST MERCHANDISE FOR THE CURIOUS KID IN YOUR LIFE.  HEAD ON OVER TO OUR MERCH STORE AT TEEPUBLIC.COM OR SIMPLY CLICK ON THE LINK IN THE EPISODE NOTES TO SEE ALL OF THE GREAT ITEMS IN THE MERCH SHOP.  THERE ARE SO MANY COLORS AND SIZES AVAILABLE FOR EVERYTHING.  MAKE SURE TO VISIT THE MERCH SHOP TODAY SO YOU GET YOUR GOODS IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS.  JOIN US NEXT WEEK, WHEN WE GET CURIOUS ABOUT HELICOPTERS FOR A LISTENER IN SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK.  AS ALWAYS, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LISTENING AND GETTING CURIOUS WITH US.