Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It enjoys swimming in a nearby pond.

And look! Its fins and tail have gotten bigger, and you’ve moved it to a larger body of water to swim in. 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.

Gusher loves making water shoot up into the air and watching it cascade down in a shower. He spends many hours in the center of ponds sending streams of water up into the air, splattering lily pads, fish, frogs, or anything else that comes under his stream. Sometimes he does this from just below the surface of the water; other times he poses without moving and sees how long he can make his stream last before going for more water. Either way, passersby often stop to enjoy the view—and get splattered by his playfulness!