The dragon, full frontal - Naturalis Biodiversity Center - Photography Cees de Jonge
This is the depot of Naturalis Biodiversity Center. And this, well this is a dragon. A small, happy dragon with a curly tail and lifted head. But there’s no such thing as dragons, right?
That’s right, but sometimes it pays to pretend. Between the 16th and 18th century, all kinds of stories were told, not just of fake dragons but of monsters, mermaids, basilisks, giant whales and other strange creatures. Objects like our dragon were seen as real, far more often than they would be now.
But was the public always misled this easily? Find out how the hoax was exposed…
