Help with debating a 'dragon' guy

[Enola Straight]

Racial memory of Dinosaurs?

[Darth Raptor]

Racial memory of Dinosaurs?

When the last dinosaur died, our ancestors were tiny, rat-like critters.

[Guardsman Bass]

Racial memory of Dinosaurs?

When the last dinosaur died, our ancestors were tiny, rat-like critters.

Dinosaurs seem a little too far back, but I remember reading in Steven Pinker's (a sort of experimental brain researcher) book Blank Slate that he mentioned the possibility of the Great Apes (including us) having a sort of in-built fear of snakes.

[Akhlut]

Racial memory of Dinosaurs?

When the last dinosaur died, our ancestors were tiny, rat-like critters.

Dinosaurs seem a little too far back, but I remember reading in Steven Pinker's (a sort of experimental brain researcher) book Blank Slate that he mentioned the possibility of the Great Apes (including us) having a sort of in-built fear of snakes.

I think this inborn fear probably does exist. I mean, you can teach monkeys to be afraid of a length of hose by showing it a manipulated video of a monkey being frightened by a hose. Those same monkeys don't become afraid of, say, a cinderblock if you perform the same experiment, except with the video showing a monkey being frightened by a cinderblock.

Further, it makes sense. While only the venomous snakes and the largest constrictors can harm most monkeys and the great apes, it's difficult to identify which snakes will kill you and which will just be annoying. It's better just to be afraid of all snakes and avoid them all entirely instead of risking one's life trying to identify which ones are which.

[Oni Koneko Damien]

Dinosaurs seem a little too far back, but I remember reading in Steven Pinker's (a sort of experimental brain researcher) book Blank Slate that he mentioned the possibility of the Great Apes (including us) having a sort of in-built fear of snakes.

I watched a show about a year ago, I don't remember what the name was, only that it was on the Discovery Channel, so you have no real source on this other than my word, take it with as much salt as you please:

During the show (which was about learning capabilities), they showed footage of some primate experimentation. Basically, they exposed a howler monkey that had been raised in captivity, with no real experience outside of a zoo, to a snake. The monkey was anything but afraid, and eventually just lost interest in the reptile.

Then, they showed that same howler monkey a video of *another* howler monkey, this one from the wild, being exposed to the snake. The wild one, naturally, got scared shitless, screamed, and kept as far away from the snake as possible.

Then, they put the snake back in the cage of the one raised in captivity. This time, he got scared of the snake and kept away.

Anyways, the point is, at least from that show I saw, it seems the fear of snakes is far more learned than instinctual.

[Rye]

The most common candidates for the Behemoth are either an Elephant or a Hippopotamus.

The name may also have some connection to Bahamut, which was, in ancient babylonian myth, a giant fish on which the world rode. (the ancient babylonians not being sufficiently familiar with turtles to make informed mythological choices).

The combination of something large and aquatic reinforces the idea that they might be talking Hippopotamus.

I doubt it has any connection to bahamut based on similar-sounding wording. No more than Sun and Son. Behemah = cattle, beast. The behemoth may have been based on the on the hippo for description, (since it would've seemed unkillable and extremely dangerous) however it is not a real animal. It is mythical and eats grass, is the mammal part of the triumvirate of divine animals. Behemoth is also associated with the ground, not the sea. The leviathan was the water monster.

I'm not sure if the leviathan and behemoth were a kingu/bahamut style pairing and the ziz was just added later due to persian influence.

Oh and yeah, the cedar tail is a reference to its cock/virility.

[wolveraptor]

You know, it doesn't have to be something real at all. They could have just made it up. It could be a man's fantasy of "best pet". Something big, badass, and big-dicked.