This hatchling could hardly be considered cute.

And look! It has grown wings! At least it isn’t quite as naked-looking anymore.

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.

After searching the cave for hours on end, Tastica was overjoyed when she brought home Cole's egg, treasuring it almost possessively. The egg was a subject of great worry for all the dragons in the cave, as they were not sure whether the dark crust that lay on the dark eggs surface was harmful to the hatchling inside. Speculation varied throughout the clans, as some thought it was a parasite, while others claimed the egg was stained by the blood of its mother while the more dramatic among the clans feared it was a deadly virus which would wipe out all dragonkind as they refused to go within miles of the lone egg. Upon hatching it was the sheer nakedness of the young hatchling which repelled the dragons, believing the mysterious crusty substance had burnt off all of his scales. Luckily when his exoskeleton grew in this was removed, and albeit cautiously at first the dragons began to accept him, and others of his breed into everyday life.