| Greater Spotted Drake | |
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File:Greater Spotted Drake adult.png
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| Release Date | May 20, 2015 |
| Elemental Affinity | Unknown |
| Morphology | DC Drakes |
| Base Rarity | Very Common |
| BSA | None |
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| Habitat | Forest |
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| Color | Green, brown, black |
| Nicknames | None |
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Spriters 
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JOTB |
Greater Spotted Drakes were released on May 20, 2015, alongside Magelight Pygmy Wyverns and Hooktalon Dragons as part of Dragon Cave's 9th birthday celebration.
Official Dragon Descriptions
Egg
"This egg is speckled with rosette-like markings."
Hatchling
"Aww... It’s a cute baby drake. It blends in very well when it hides in tall grass."
Mature Hatchling
"Aww... It’s a cute baby drake. It blends in very well when it hides in tall grass.
And look! It has grown wings! It must be close to maturing."
Adult
"Greater Spotted Drakes are found in open pine and oak forests. They are among the larger end of the spectrum, but are quite laid back and feed mostly on plant material. They are ambush predators and rely on their dappled markings for camouflage. Females are usually larger than males, though males are brighter in color. In the breeding season the male attracts a mate by making loud, low-pitched bugles, followed by an aerial courtship dance to as proof of his quality as a father to her offspring."
Sprite Artist(s)
- JOTB (All)
Sprites
| Series | Egg | Hatchling | Mature Hatchling | Adult |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Spotted Drake
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File:Greater Spotted Drake hatchling.gif | 
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File:Greater Spotted Drake adult.png |
Sprites No Longer In-Use
| Series | Egg | Hatchling | Mature Hatchling | Adult |
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| Old Sprites | ||||
| Old Egg Sequence
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File:Old Greater Spotted Drake egg.gif File:Old Greater Spotted Drake crack 1.png File:Old Greater Spotted Drake crack 2.png File:Old Greater Spotted Drake crack 3.png File:Old Greater Spotted Drake crack 4.png File:Old Greater Spotted Drake crack 5.png File:Old Greater Spotted Drake dead egg.gif | |||
Egg Sequence
| Stage 0 | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Stage 4 | Stage 5 | Dead |
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Encyclopedia Entry
Appearance/Basic Anatomy
- Hide is covered in tough, heavily-keratinized scales.
- Back “spines” are large, specialized scales much like the scutes of a crocodile.
- Short, broad wings for forest flight.
- Have a variety of teeth for their omnivorous diet.
- Large, blunt claws better suited for digging than climbing.
- Antlers increase in size with age and condition.
Hatchling Behavior
- Large, fast-growing, and independent.
- Can hunt for themselves from an early age.
- May band together with other hatchlings to hunt larger prey.
- Young males may practice bugling but their calls are comically high-pitched before adolescence.
- Younger hatchlings frequently seen climbing trees.
Adult Behavior
- Solitary. Come together for a short time to breed.
- Females incubate their eggs until hatching, then abandon their young.
- Peaceful; will ignore most other dragons.
- During the breeding season, males will fight over females but the battles are usually short and rarely result in injury.
Habitat
- Oak parkland and pine savannah.
- Avoid areas with large amounts of underbrush as it impedes movement.
Diet
- Primarily plant material, including leaves, nuts, berries, and tubers.
- Will also eat a variety of large animals.
- In the winter, the diet contains a larger proportion of meat.
Trivia
- On May 21, 2016, Greater Spotted Drakes received a major update to their egg sprites, as part of Dragon Cave's 10th Birthday; all DC Drakes released on the site when this event occurred received the same downsizing update. This update was done so that the sprites better fit the breed's description of having slightly smaller eggs than those of standard dragons.
Additional information
“
- We tend to shoot for realistic anatomy but there's so much wrong with most DC dragons' flying abilities that I feel it's a moot point. I don't wanna.
I'm not claiming that they're 100% anatomically correct (my knowledge is far from complete), but here are some of my intentions regarding the anatomy that may (or may not) address your conerns.
The hind legs are supporting the dragon's weight and providing balance. They switch between bipedal and quadrupedal gaits, hence why the hind legs are so long. Was that your concern? Think of his pose as having previously been up on his hind legs eating leaves, but then he heard something interesting and came back down on all fours without readjusting his limbs.
Wings look much larger fully extended (the membrane pulls back and folds). I don't really remember but I'm pretty sure I made this after seeing some pictures of birds with very short, thick wings and wanted to mess around with that anyway?
I'm not really sure what's wrong with having muscular wing arms though?
Far foreleg should be darker, good point.
And yes, they do primarily eat plants but when they eat meat they ambush it. Most of the meat eating occurs in the winter, or in areas where there is already heavy browsing from other species.
Also, the blacktip dragons have mean, aggressive females and submissive males as well. They were influenced by the breeding system of the jacana and then I ran with it. I chose this because I like aggressive, grisly dragons and because I wanted it to be at the extreme, polar opposite end of the spectrum of what is expected (or at least what I think is expected), not what I think is desirable. Nature is ugly and brutal at times, and sometimes horrifying. Wise, noble, peaceful dragons are boring to me.
On the flip side though, the bluebanded dragons do have an elephant-like matriarchal system. It does exist.