More about dragon packs
2 Aug 2011 16:25I was considering that point about clutches of juveniles creating packs, and I really like it. I don't think I'll go with the hidden-clutch method of incubation, however, due to wanting my dragon species to have some degree of wide-spread society. For that, they need to be brought up by at least one adult.
At which point I had a fantastic idea! So, first, each adult individual has a territory. Then there is however breeding works in terms of finding a mate. For this particular example/method, they would not have a joint territory (like human marriage), regardless of whether they mate for life.
So, the clutch is laid. NOW. I was originally thinking it would be laid in the female's lair, but it is entirely possible that it could be laid in the male's lair. Or even either. It depends on how the travelling for mating works. The clutch is incubated by whichever parent is in possession of the eggs until they hatch.
Now, recall that these larger dragons would most likely eat their kill on-site. The more birdlike ones could regurgitate their food for the hatchlings, but that seems unlikely. Instead, the hatchlings could hunt small animals in the area around the lair while the parent gave them basic education, until they were developed enough and had learned how to fly.
At this point, the juveniles would begin flight-hunting together to find food better suited for their increasing size, using the skills and knowledge they developed as hatchlings and adapting it as necessary.
The parent would continue educating and raising them until reaching adulthood, at which point the children would all go off to find their own territories.
The small dragons (who continue hunting in packs through adulthood) would have a substantially different societal structure than the large dragons, due to this sort of thing. And I haven't even started touching on the other types of dragons~
At which point I had a fantastic idea! So, first, each adult individual has a territory. Then there is however breeding works in terms of finding a mate. For this particular example/method, they would not have a joint territory (like human marriage), regardless of whether they mate for life.
So, the clutch is laid. NOW. I was originally thinking it would be laid in the female's lair, but it is entirely possible that it could be laid in the male's lair. Or even either. It depends on how the travelling for mating works. The clutch is incubated by whichever parent is in possession of the eggs until they hatch.
Now, recall that these larger dragons would most likely eat their kill on-site. The more birdlike ones could regurgitate their food for the hatchlings, but that seems unlikely. Instead, the hatchlings could hunt small animals in the area around the lair while the parent gave them basic education, until they were developed enough and had learned how to fly.
At this point, the juveniles would begin flight-hunting together to find food better suited for their increasing size, using the skills and knowledge they developed as hatchlings and adapting it as necessary.
The parent would continue educating and raising them until reaching adulthood, at which point the children would all go off to find their own territories.
The small dragons (who continue hunting in packs through adulthood) would have a substantially different societal structure than the large dragons, due to this sort of thing. And I haven't even started touching on the other types of dragons~