this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2024
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This reminded me of an interesting fact I heard like 15 years ago: apparently, dragon-like animals show up in folklore across the world in areas with no native reptile species often enough to be considered an anomaly.
Hmm. What areas? AFAIK they're on all the same continents as humans, and a few species get as far north as places like Canada. I guess Ireland famously has no snakes, so maybe there. I'd expect northern Canada and Ireland could both get dragon myths by import from distant lands.
So, that's my attempt at an explanation.
It was 15 years ago or so that I heard that in a TV show, so I don't really remember any specifics, but I think it would mostly be isolated islands and the like, as I think Hawaii is another place with no native reptile species. Imported myths from other places would be my guess as well.