Dragons, the legendary bat winged monsters are one of the many popular mythological creatures that have found their place in fiction literature, movies, folklore and mythological history. Dragon tales though believed to originate in China are found in stories from all across the world. The origin of dragons and their incorporation in folklore cannot be traced back to the exact time but it is believed that they started around the time of the ancient Greeks and Sumerians who described creatures that resembled huge flying serpents.

Here are some of interesting facts about the dragon.

• Having been part of history and culture all over the world, the typical description of this beast is quite different in the Western and Eastern world. While the western world dragons are large green monstrous fire breathing serpents, Eastern dragons are comparatively smaller in size with no wings.

• The word “dragon” has been derived from the ancient Greek word ‘Draconta’ which means ‘to watch’. These beasts were believed to be used as guards of treasure, preferably in the royal palaces.

• In Western literature and folklore like the epic Beowulf, dragons have been mentioned where the brave hero fought against the evil beast. There have also been other tales of the middle ages where brave knights challenged these dragons or fought with them while in search of something that may have been guarded by dragons.

• The Chinese dragons are usually long, have horns and have kinder and better depiction where they do not roar but make sounds that resemble that of beating gongs or jingling bells. They also serve as wise friends of humans.

• Western folklore dragons are typically found to be living in mountains and caves and consume anything they find weak.

• The fire breathing dragons too are believed to have originated from the imaginations of people in the medieval period.

• The sinister and dangerous image of dragons developed particularly after the spread of Christianity when they were solely interpreted to be representative of Satan. Anything originating from Pagan legends was believed to be sinful.

• In the Greek epic, Iliad, King Agamemnon had a shield with symbols of a 3 headed blue coloured dragon.

• The dragon symbol also finds its place in the armorial bearings of the Prince of Wales since the 20th century.

• Even in the present day the dragon holds immense significance in Chinese culture and people celebrate the Chinese New Year flying dragon shaped kites and parading huge crafted dragons down the streets.

• Dragons in Chinese mythology are believed to be forces of the air and therefore do not need wings. In Taoism, they are deified forces of nature.

• Chinese astrology also has a dragon as one of the animals among the 12 other beasts in their 12-year astrological cycle. The year of the Dragon has an earthly branch symbol.

Dragons are not entirely mythical because various species of reptiles have been found that resemble large sized lizards and the description of dragons and. The Komodo dragons living in Indonesia for example are similar creatures and are extremely dominant predators