Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It keeps trying to catch fish in a nearby pond.

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.

Shio-tsubu is a very forward little dragon. He may not be old enough to mate yet, but that doesn't stop him from trying to woo the females during mating season with his little bugle of a call. It never works, of course, and all the females just want to baby him. He hates being young and cannot wait until he is old enough to be the male that woos the alpha female.

His name means 'Grain of Salt'.