Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. Ever since it hatched, the sky has been full of very dark clouds.

And look! It has grown wings! It must be close to maturing. It’s learned to use its new wings quickly and you now have a hard time keeping it on the ground.

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.

Named for a rumored weather phenomenon in a far-away land, El Ninito is a formidable climate-controller, even as a hatchling. As such, he was charmed to keep him at the level of a tropical storm, rather than a full-blown hurricane. Given his size, he is still quite a tempest in a teapot.