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ecology of dragons
HATCHLINGS/WYRMLINGS
A dragon's egg, once fertilised, requires between 8 to 12 months of incubation. This is an extraordinarily long time, and one that seems to vary greatly. One clutch may take barely 8 months to hatch, and another will take 11. It is theorised that the wyrmlings require the ambient magical energy that a dragon's lair holds in order to properly develop - indeed, eggs that are taken from a dragon's nest will often take far longer to hatch.
In cases where eggs have been traded repeatedly (thereby never settling in one area with a stable magical aura), it has been recorded that it can take up to a century to hatch. Without adequate ambient magic, the embryo seems to drop into a kind of torpor, slowing its growth to a crawl.
A dragon's egg is roughly spherical, and close to a foot in diameter. This means that the hatchlings are tiny compared to the adult dragon - but the shell itself is nearly a quarter of an inch thick. Any thicker and it would be nearly impossible for the wyrmling to break through.
After hatching, all varieties of dragons care for their offspring for at least the first six months. White dragons turn actively cannibalistic within a year. Gold dragons apparently ignore their offspring until they leave, which can explain their solitary nature as adults.
A dragon's egg, once fertilised, requires between 8 to 12 months of incubation. This is an extraordinarily long time, and one that seems to vary greatly. One clutch may take barely 8 months to hatch, and another will take 11. It is theorised that the wyrmlings require the ambient magical energy that a dragon's lair holds in order to properly develop - indeed, eggs that are taken from a dragon's nest will often take far longer to hatch.
In cases where eggs have been traded repeatedly (thereby never settling in one area with a stable magical aura), it has been recorded that it can take up to a century to hatch. Without adequate ambient magic, the embryo seems to drop into a kind of torpor, slowing its growth to a crawl.
A dragon's egg is roughly spherical, and close to a foot in diameter. This means that the hatchlings are tiny compared to the adult dragon - but the shell itself is nearly a quarter of an inch thick. Any thicker and it would be nearly impossible for the wyrmling to break through.
After hatching, all varieties of dragons care for their offspring for at least the first six months. White dragons turn actively cannibalistic within a year. Gold dragons apparently ignore their offspring until they leave, which can explain their solitary nature as adults.