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.

Shipton lives in shallow water close to the shoreline, a short swim from a quiet harbor. She is often found swimming or lying among eelgrass, where her favorite food—crustaceans and tiny fish—can be found. Still, she's happy eating most anything, and her parents once had to pull trash from the harbor out of her mouth because she didn't understand those weren't edible. Shipton's greatest fear is getting eaten. She thinks a lot about the living critters she catches in bubbles, and she worries that one day, if she doesn't grow big soon, a larger predator will catch and eat her.