Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It enjoys playing in shallow water.

And look! It has grown fins, and likes to make bubbles in the water. 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.

Coming from a lair that is well known for producing dragons of less than trustworthy pedigree, all this male ever wanted was a nice, pretty family tree. Something one could frame and put on the wall. Something everyone and their moms would want to be related to. But no, no! Cruel fate has given him an ancestry that looks like an incestuous WHIRLPOOL! This thought never ceases to make the OCD-prone cleanliness-obsessed little beast burst into tears, earning him the sympathy of many an onlooker.