Aww... It’s a cute baby drake. It seems to like you, although it is very hyperactive and difficult to train.

And look! It has grown wings! It must be close to maturing.

Young drakes 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 marks the beginning of maturation. At this point they are often capable of hunting on their own.

Behold, seeker of the dragon lore, M'thraw of the Ochredrakes. Although he was neither abandoned by his parents nor is of mixed breed (which in dragon lore are suspected to be causes for hatchlings to stop growing), he did not continue maturing after he had developed wings. His voice is quite beautiful, although it would rather fit a nightingale than a dragon. He never left his parents' territory and is accepted by them instead of being chased off, as commonly happens to maturing hatchlings.