Overview and Social Structure

Figure 1 - A fully flying specimen (actually ff flight type)


Figure 2 - A hover stalking a human rock climber

The Hectonid Drakes (Ophis Draconus - literally "snake dragon") are a species of warm-blooded, highly intelligent reptiles. They organize in familial colonies and are fiercely territorial, with a colony's area often ranging over 50 miles in any direction.

The social structure of a colony is similar to a caste system divided by the flight characteristics. Fully flying drakes form the top of the hierarchy, followed the by the "hovers," or those with partial flight abilities. The non-flyers form the bottom rung, and they have the job of forming the underground burrows that the non-flyers and hovers live in. Flying drakes are always in the air, a perk of their unique physiology.

Reproduction

Generally, the only males who reproduce are the flying ones or in their absence hovers. Hectonid Drakes lay eggs which need to be incubated using extremely high temperatures, thus the fire-breathing specimens run the "nursery," a large burrow where the eggs can be sprayed down with the drakes' flaming "breath" (see Fire Breathing for details). These nannies work in shifts so that there is a consistent source of flame for the incubation, allowing those off-shift to recuperate.

The eggs that will hatch into flying hectonids must be tended much more carefully. These eggs are a valuable resource to the colonies. A flying egg is lighter than air, like the drake that will hatch from it, and thus will float off if unprotected. The incubation process for a flying egg involves the egg itself being swallowed by a nonflying drake. The incubator gains a modicum of flight; the egg compensates for a part of its weight, allowing it to float like a "hover" type. At the end of the incubation period, the egg hatches and the chick eats its way out of the incubating drake, using the corpse for nourishment.

Traits

Single-Allele Trait: Mane
Scientists are baffled as to what function this serves; it is just passed on.



Single-Allele Trait: Chameleon Skin
In reality, the word "chameleon" is not the correct description. This is a form of camouflage that allows the drake to blend in with its surroundings, not color-changing with emotions.


Multiple Allele Trait: Blood Type
The hectonid drakes' blood types are perhaps their most interesting trait. The blood is similar to human blood with the same blood types, A, B, AB, and O. Type AB blood is highly acidic, and will eat through almost anything other than glass. The A and B types have no special properties on their own, but cannot mix; if you do mix A and B hectonid blood, the solution will explode. Type O blood is truly a universal donor. It has regenerative properties, and can be transfused from hectonids to almost any other species.


Codominant Trait: Coloration
Hectonid drakes can be green or blue. When two different (but solidly) colored dragons mix, their offspring will have both colors. Individual scales are colored, so different patterns often emerge.


Sex-Linked Trait: Breath Weapon
This is the most important trait in a colony, second only to flight. The fire breath itself is more of a flammable spit. All drakes possess a tongue that carries an electric charge, much like an electric eel, but fire-breathing hectonids are the only dragons to have a major use for it, as the shock isn't strong enough to be used when hunting. The fire-breathing drakes have sacs of a flammable chemical that they can expel from their mouths, igniting it with their tongues. When lit, the chemical resembles napalm as it sticks to everything and keeps burning. Once the sacs are discharged, it takes about 18 hours to "recharge" the flames.

Because the fire-breathers are so vital to the reproduction process, they stay in the nursery while other drakes hunt, allowing food to be brought to them.


Incomplete Dominant Trait: Flight
The most important trait to a colony, flying ability is an incomplete dominant trait. Those drakes that do fly do so using gas in their backs to compensate for their weight and make them lighter than air. Hovers don't have as many "balloons," so they can only compensate enough to move as if on the moon.

Punnett Square

Sample Pedigree

Sample Questions

1. Show a dyhybrid cross crossing a "Mmgg" drake with a "MMGG" drake. tell the ratios of phenotypes that result.

2. Create a 3-generation pedigree for fire-breathing, assuming that the first generation (parents) are a fire-breathing male and a normal female, that each pairing results in 4 children, and that half of those children find mates.

3. Sketch a Hectonid Drake with the following genotypes: Mm, gg, Hh, x'y, Ff.