Dragon

Illustration of a winged, fire-breathing dragon by Friedrich Justin Bertuch from 1806

Qing-era carved imperial Chinese dragons at Nine-Dragon Wall, Beihai Park, Beijing

Dragon-shaped bows on ships in Ystad, Sweden, resembling Viking longships

A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as winged, horned, and capable of breathing fire. Dragons in eastern cultures are usually depicted as wingless, four-legged, serpentine creatures with above-average intelligence. Commonalities between dragons' traits are often a hybridization of feline, reptilian, mammalian, and avian features.