Do Dragon eggs hatch too fast?

[buckmana]

A random thought that occurred to me.

In the series and Gift of the Night Fury, they show that dragon eggs hatch soon after being laid.

Realistically, this is not possible.

An analogy, it would be like a mammal getting pregnant and giving birth a few days later.


It works like this, once the egg is laid, the creature inside requires time to develop to newborn state, it's just an embryo when the egg is laid and naturally, is not ready to hatch for quite some time.

So a dragon egg laid a few days ago would not be ready to hatch until the embryo inside develops to it's full size and is ready to open the egg by itself.

This normally takes a few months, so an freshly laid egg is not ready to hatch.

[Moo]

Because as far as I'm aware there's nothing to go on, while it does seem a tad unrealistic that appears to be the case.

[rubywings91]

Actually, it is possible. Some reptiles in cold areas that lay eggs will store them in their bodies for a long time compared to their southern relatives. Scientists theorize that one of the benefits of this is that allows the snakes to better control the temperatures that the eggs are exposed to, as they can move to places where temperatures are more desirable for them to develop. The smooth green snakes eggs can hatch as soon as four days after the mother lays them.

[thenightandthefury]

In my opinion the reason why dragon eggs hatch fast and the dragons age faster, is this.

In a normal a world, we have predators who are protected by packs, prides, etc. Look at a dog. They double in size in the first few weeks you get them. Same with cats. Why is this?

Simply put, if they were in the wild, and stayed little forever, they would be killed. Survival has taught predators to grow fast, as well as for prey to be able to stand and walk, even run, within a day of birth. (Look at horses, they can walk and even run usually within their first days of life)

So dragons, being fictional characters, live in a time when they are the top predator. Think of it this way; with thousands of huge dragons out there, how would an egg survive from an attack? Although the mother and even father can protect it as long as possible, they must still get food for themselves. It is likely that during those times other dragons or animals would swooop in for the kill. Its an easy meal, as is life. Look at lions; they will even go for ostrich eggs believing it is an easy meal.

As for aging, a common question I've heard, think of this. If they were small, the size of a puppy, for long.. How on earth would they survive? As much as the mother would like to protect them, they are an easy meal. Should they wander off they are basically dead upon the first encounter with almost any other creature in the wilderness. This, in my opinion, is why dragons age a lot faster then any other creature. For if they stayed in the cute baby size for months, they would not stand a chance at life. After all, it is survival of the fittest in the world of wild creatures.

Also, look at birds. Most birds.... like cockatiels are hatched and double in size daily. Almost as if overnight. By the time a few weeks has passed, they are pretty much fully grown and growing feathers, and within a short while after able to fly and weaned. Survival has taught them that if they stay weak and helpless they will die.

This is my opinion. And as ruby says it is based off of reptiles; many creatures in real life have similar birthing and egg laying techniques, and similar aging mechanisms. We just don't notice it, because often the most unique creatures in the world (like many reptiles other then those we own as pets) are misunderstood and have assumptions made about them. Most of these creatures live in other parts of the world, most too rare for us to ever see outside a zoo. But it is the wonder of life that so many survival mechanisms have been implanted into DNA... Which is what they based the dragons off of.