Crowned Firedrake

A new picture for the dragon universe folder
This time, the crowned firedrkae or crowned fire dragon ( Pyrodraco coronatus) is a big and one of the more common species of fire dragons...at least in former times. The crowned fire dragon is probably the inspiration ffor many medieval sightings and paintings of fierce fire breathing dragons and together with the comon fire dragon, was once one of the most widespread species of dragon found in the world. They inhabit mostly mountaneous regions, like many of the bigger dragons and are found almost exclusevely in the northern hemisphere. The crowned fire dragon gets its name from the numerous spines that grow on the back of its head. These spines become more numerous and bigger the older the dragon gets. Old fire dragons of this species have a big crest or crown of big spikes , hence the species name. The crowned fire dragon is a rather big species of dragon, growing to sizes of 16 metres long and a wingspan of 25-30 metres, making them  among the bigest of fire dragons. They are decent flyers, not as maneuverable in air combat as a manulong but able to travel large distances nonstop with tremendous energy reserves. While its physical body plan indicates this dragon to be a wyvern, its not, wyvernid dragons  only carry a single claw on their wings, while all firedrakes carry 3 clawed digits, clearly distinguishing the two families. In the middle ages, crowned firedragons were found all over europe some parts of asia and in north america . They were aggressive dragons, fearing nothing but a bigger individual of their species. They frequently attacked humans ,tough not for some kind of evilness but simply because humans or  better speaking their livestock were easy pickings for the massive flying reptiles. Interactions with this species or almost any other kind of fire drake for that matter, usually didnt end well for humans.  studying these beast was and is very difficult. It was said that the biggest members of these dragons could cast shadows on entire cities when flying overhead and that there roar made glass break. Touching the skin of one of these beasts was said to melt your hand off , and indeed the fire of the crowned fire dragon is one of the hottest of all dragons and its body actually glows before breathing flame.   Today these dragons have become rare, as humans populated more oand more room the number of dragons decreased. Another reason for that is their very slow reproductive cycle. Crowned fire drakes and many other fire dragons, reproduce very slwoly, they only lay eggs every 3 years and even then the maximum number of eggs counted so far was 3. Crowned fire dragons were said to often invade castles, seeking refugee or a place to nest, often killing or scaring away the castles inhabitants in the process. Today, these dragons can be found resting in old castles,sometimes they have amassed treasures as thesedragons are seemingly "fascinated" by shinign things,often decorating their nests with them.

Inspired my many traditional dragons, and the dragons from game of thrones.

If someone maybe wants to digitally colour this pic I would be delighted if youdid so.