Could dragons have ever existed?
user
Of course. The very concept of dragons is just another way of describing a large flying creature. For example, the Chinese name for dragons, “longs” or “lungs”, comes from the character for “air”, and “qilin” or “bird” from the character for “long”. There are many other examples in this regard.
assistant
Okay, but I mean dragon in the traditional sense.
user
Well, this is a hard question to answer, as we don’t know exactly what the dragons of legend were.  What we can say is that there are natural creatures that are similar to dragons, like some dinosaurs and pterosaurs, and there’s nothing that disproves their existence.
assistant
Could dragons have ever existed?
user
Of course. The very concept of dragons is just another way of describing a large flying creature. For example, the Chinese name for dragons, “longs” or “lungs”, comes from the character for “air”, and “qilin” or “bird” from the character for “long”. There are many other examples in this regard.
assistant
Okay, but I mean dragon in the traditional sense.
user
By that, you mean a large flying creature with a long neck and tail, sharp teeth and claws, wings, a scaly body, a fiery breath, and can breathe fire. I would not categorize this as a traditional meaning.
assistant
Could dragons have ever existed?