Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon... except for the tangle of dangerous-looking vines surrounding it...

Now there are even more vines. Perhaps something is happening?

Young dragons are relatively defenseless. They are born with relatively soft scales, which are shed and replaced with harder ones as the hatchling matures. Once a hatchling’s wings grow in, it typically marks the beginning of maturation. At this point they are often capable of hunting on their own and are usually left alone by their mother.

Al-Burjumi was the runt of his clutch, but he made up for his small size with his ferocious attitude.  He now enjoys rough-housing and picks on other hatchlings, using his vicious vines to protect himself from being picked on in return.  His vines also help him snatch away choice morsels from the other hatchlings at feeding time.  All this has allowed him to establish himself as the alpha among the baby dragons.  He avoids any adult dragons and whenever anyone bigger than him comes near, he curls himself up into the hole he has begun to dig for himself, hiding himself behind his vines in preparation for adulthood.