The Feathered Serpent in Real Life

The definition of a dragon depends on who you're asking. We are so used to the fire-breathing, bat-winged, avaricious antagonists of Europe and the long, lank wise men of Asia that we don't often consider the dragons of the Americas. On the top of the popularity list is the feathered serpent of Mexico, the category in which you'd find the Wise Bringer of the Wind, Quetzalcoatl.

In this post, the feathered serpent is a hundred-foot-long python or anaconda with the thorax of a swan (the heaviest flying bird) and the wings of an eagle. That leaves us some problems, as follow:

• How does it position its wings during slithering?
• With no hind limbs, how would it take off for flight? (Let's disregard cliffs and other highlands and see how it'd do that in lowland rainforests, the sort of habitat central Mexico, the location of the Aztecs, is.)

posted almost 8 years ago

JohnWDailey‭

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