One of the most notable peculiarities of dragons, at least as they are usually described in European folklore – in Chinese tradition, for example, they are serpentine beings associated mainly with water – is their ability to expel fire. The relationship of some fantastic creatures with this element seems to come from far away. Already in the Epic of Gilgamesh , a Sumerian tale whose oldest known copies date back to the 18th century BC. C., Huwawa the Terrible is described, a monster covered in scales and endowed with a fiery breath that caused fear to human beings .
In The Encyclopedia of Monsters , writer Daniel E. Cohen proposes that this ability could have been inspired by the way some cobras spit venom. Not surprisingly, since ancient times, the popular imagination connects and even identifies snakes and dragons. But to what extent would something like this be possible? In this same sense, in nature we find animals with extraordinary powers. The bombardier beetle, for example, is capable of launching a mixture of high-temperature chemical compounds that it stores inside its body at a certain distance . This is lethal to many other insects.
Now, how could an animal generate and launch fire without burning itself? We have imagined the process in one of the smallest relatives of dragons, the wyvern or heraldic dragon. Instead of the characteristic four legs with which most of these creatures are represented, they would only have two.
1. The kidneys synthesize a highly reactive enzyme that they discharge into the stomach.
2. Gastric juices react with the enzyme to form an acidic, volatile and highly flammable mixture.
3. The animal regurgitates the mixture and stores it in bags located on both sides of the neck.
4. The dragon contracts its neck muscles, squeezes the bags, and releases a puff of carbon dioxide through the windpipe. Thus, it expels a jet of fuel as if it were an aerosol.
5. As fuel is released from the nozzle, it combines with the oxygen in the air and ignites. In this way the dragon spits fire without burning.
Illustration: José Antonio Peñas
