Dragonology

Types of dragon

Multicolour dragons
Transparent dragons
Red dragons
Orange dragons
Yellow dragons
Green dragons
Blue dragons
Purple dragons
Pink dragons
Black dragons
White dragons
Gold dragons
Silver dragons
Stone dragons
Brick Dragons
Wood dragons

What counts as a dragon?

Dragon is a large umbrella term. No individual system has quite captured the varieties of species, and well-known versions in fiction such as Tolkien or Dungeons and Dragons are not correct. The history of the categorisation of different types of dragons is as much of a hodge-podge as most of London’s layout.

While some suggest that Wyverns (two legged dragons) are not ‘real’ as dragons must have four legs, in Latin there is actually no differntiation between the word for ‘serpent’ and the word for ‘dragon’. Some have suggested that dragons must have wings, but many Asian dragon species do not have wings, and yet they are unmistakably dragons. Indeed, even what appears to be a clear differentiation between griffins and dragons becomes much more complicated when we consider the fact that many dinosaurs had feathers. Consider the platypus: some animals defy simple categorisation. That doesn’t make them any less real.

In reality: biological taxonomy is something applied retrospectively to attempt to categorise the world around us. While the naturalists are still arguing back and forth, we at Dragons of London have chosen to take a broad and inclusive approach and show you the greatest range of creatures. This is partly because London is a melting pot and partly because this means we can share more cool stuff.

But public dragons only

We are focusing purely on dragons in the wild (in public) so that everyone can have a chance to visit them. For this we’re including all exteriors of buildings, and interiors of buildings which are open to the public – like pubs, restaurants, churches and museums.

By ‘architectural’ we mean dragons which might appear (to the untrained eye) to be statues or decorative parts of buildings – carvings, church spires, mouldings, supports, decorative mouldings, etc. This is, again, to keep our definitions public. You might have some beautiful resin pet dragons from Forbidden Planet or plush dragons from Hamleys, but if the general public can’t visit them: Dragons of London isn’t the right place for them.