Legend of The Serpent

They are covered in scales, and without any limbs, They slither around undetected by their prey. Many of these creatures have powerful venom sacs to render their victims inert and incapacitated while the ingestion process begins. Infrared sight is just another part of their amazing hunting abilities. Yes -- these creatures I will tell you about are known as “snakes” or “serpents” these days. However, these “snakes'' were once something even more powerful. Allow me to fill you in on their hidden and ancient origins.

Long ago, when the world was but mostly a barren wasteland, massive flying beasts ruled as the kings and queens of the skies. These were the ancestors of the serpents we know of today. Many think wyverns are just made up dragon creatures from children's books, but that is far from the truth. Do you remember those pterodactyls we were taught about in grade school -- they were actually wyverns. In fact, we should all be grateful that we don’t have 1.5 ton, armored, carnivores picking us off one by one. To add insult to injury, many wyverns had venomous claws to paralyze their prey once they were in their grasp. Other wyverns had tails sharp enough to cut through trees like they were melted butter. Some of them even had beaks with razor sharp teeth to hunt what little sea life existed back then.

Mountains were in abundance back then, and much like their descendants, wyverns tended to stay to themselves. It wasn’t until mating season that solitude would no longer be necessary. The baby wyverns would end up staying with the mother until their limbs and wings develop enough for them to hunt. Interestingly, their young were said to have looked much like a common serpent anyone could come across in current times. In fact, I encourage you that the next time you see a cobra, you notice their expanding skin just below their head. When this part of their biology activates in defense, I want you to realize how it somewhat resembles wings. The rattle at the end of the cobra’s tail is also something familiar, correct? Remnants of these beings carry on into our slithering friends which means the wyverns never fully vanished, but they simply live among us in altered forms. How lucky are we?