Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon.

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.

This hatchling had the misfortune of having his tail stomped on several times when he was very young. As a result, he developed the protective habit of wrapping his tail around his body with the tip of it tucked under his chin. Now he rarely extends his tail, mostly just for balance when negotiating particularly tricky terrain.