Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It spends a lot of time stalking and pouncing playfully on the tails of adult dragons nearby.

And look! It has grown wings! 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.

vMIT2 is a hatchling who often totters, rather awkwardly, after the caretakers. He likes attacking tails of, well, anything. The adults don't seem to mind, and the hatchlings take it as an invitation to play. He seems to try and walk on his little clawed wings. And if he gets really excited, he'll run on his back legs, usually ending with the poor guy in the dirt.