Drako
The continuing story inspired by a large dragon skull I found at Value Village
'Dinosaur' on the Beach
Centuries passed, and stories of the giant dragon skull on the beach faded into distant memory. Until one day, after another massive storm, there it was again. But dragons had become a thing of myth and legend. People no longer believed in the existence of dragons, and it was assumed the skull was some kind of extinct dinosaur. News spread, and people came from far and wide to see the curiosity on the beach.
It took on the air of a circus side-show, complete with food and balloon vendors....
A Sunday afternoon stroll along the beach took on a whole new air of excitement...
..as everyone had to come and take a look....
..at the huge 'dinosaur' skull...
People came from far and wide to see it for themselves....
Old and young alike.
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Some even brought along a picnic...
..so they could just sit and relax, and watch the goings on...
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the Paleontologists
The huge skull had disappeared from the beach in Victorian times, only to reappear a hundred years later. The museum of anthropology sent a team of paleontologists - Owen, Leona, and Narin - to check it out...
They had never seen anything like it before.
It was not like any other previously discovered species of dinosaur.
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The museum was anxious to acquire the skull and add it to their dinosaur collection.
So it was Owen's job to carefully unearth the skull....
..with Narin and Leona's assistance, while they documented every detail....
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Then they would need to prep it for transport.
Unpacking
The huge skull was crated and transported to the museum, where several months later Owen and Leona carefully unpacked it....
"Imagine us discovering this never seen before new species of dinosaur."
"Yes, It's very exciting."
Drako-saurus
The skull was put on display in pride of place in their dinosaur hall.
It was the opening day for the skull to be revealed to the public, and Owen wanted to take a few more photos before the doors opened.
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Being a totally new, previously unknown species of dinosaur, it had needed a name.
...and the honour of naming a brand new species always fell to the paleontologist who had unearthed it.
Well, the skull had reminded Owen so much of a dragon, that he chose to name it Drako-saurus....
"It's going to be interesting to see the public's reaction."
"Well, time to open the doors, and let them in."
Museum Field-trip
The first to arrive was a class of students from a prestigious private school. The teacher knew many of her students were very interested in dinosaurs, so she had arranged for her class to take a field trip to see the exhibit on the opening day....
Owen was there to give them a private tour...
"Come on in everyone."
Introducing the Drako-saurus
Everyone gathered around the huge skull...
"Wow! That's one huge skull!"
The children found it fascinating...all except one little girl.
She was terrified of the skull, and held tight onto her mother, who had come along as the teacher's helper.
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"It's a dragon!" exclaimed Effie..."Just like all the ones in my favourite fairytale books."
"It's actually a dinosaur." explained Owen. "Dragons are just imaginary creatures in books and movies. Dinosaurs were real, and this is a brand new species of dinosaur. We've never discovered anything like it before."
"I still think it's a dragon." chimed in Effie. "It sure looks like one to me."
"To be honest," added Owen, "I thought it looked like a dragon myself."
"Which is why we named it a Drako-saurus."
A Baby Drako
"Now, if you would all look up to my right." continued Owen.
"When we were in the process of unearthing the large Drako-saurus skull..."
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"..we also discovered that much smaller, intact skeleton nearby."
"We managed to secure some DNA from both specimens,"
"..and test results indicate that they are the same species."
"It's a baby dragon!" exclaimed Effie.
"Well, even though it is clearly a much younger specimen of a Draco-saurus, and may resemble what we imagine dragons to look like, it can't possibly be one, since dragons are only imaginary."
"But it was certainly a very unusual dinosaur, and it was capable of flight."
"So you can just imagine the size of the wings on this adult. It would have been extremely impressive."
Souvenirs
After the official tour, the children were encouraged to take a closer look at the exhibits on their own...
...while their teacher and Owen stood ready to answer any questions.
And of course one of the most exciting things about visiting a museum was going to the gift shop. Many of the children had saved up their allowances expressly for that purpose. Everyone was excited to go buy something. Books about dinosaurs were a favourite...
..as were the posters...
..and the 3-D models...
One little boy tried to get his sister interested in a small dinosaur toy...
But the most popular souvenirs were the 3-D dinosaur skeleton models....
"I see you got one too."
"Dragons are for Real"
As most of the children went about showing the others what they'd bought at the gift shop.
There were two children - a brother and sister - still looking at the Drako-saurus skull.
"You know how Grandpa likes to tell us stories," she whispered to her brother, "about how our family came from royalty hundreds of years ago?"
"Grandpa also says that there really were dragons in those days. And he says that our family was friends with a whole family of them."
"So, don't pay any attention to what that museum guy says. Dragons really existed. They were real."
"I don't know if this is one of the ones our family knew, but Effie is right, it's definitely a real dragon skull."
Copyright © 2024 Martha Boers
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