Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. Its eyes glow brightly at night, and it enjoys attacking insects and small animals.

And look! It has grown wings! It must be close to maturing.

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.

Smallish Bear was named for that encounter with a bear, which happened to be tending to two young cubs nearby in a pine tree. Smallish Bear was absent-mindedly wandering among the same leafy canopy when said bear scooped her up, and took her back to her den.  It was all rather self-explanatory when she came hobbling back to the dragon caves with a large pink bow tied around her neck.  Most of the other dragons are more interested in where that bow came from.