In order to make up for the defect that the Chinese alligator's bald tail is harmful to the image of the gods, the ancients used their full imagination to add horns, whiskers and tail fins to it, and transformed the protruding horny spines arranged longitudinally on the back into serrated dorsal fins, lengthening the body to render momentum and enrich the decorative effect.
Later, due to man-made destruction of ecology, slash-and-burn cultivation, deforestation in the Yellow River basin, soil erosion, environmental deterioration and cold climate, the Chinese alligator, which is suitable for warm and humid environment, is difficult to survive and gradually disappears (now only exists in the south of Anhui Province, China). Because the Chinese alligator no longer exists in real life, the impression in people's memory will fade away, leaving only the image of the dragon created by ancestors. As a result, the dragon and the Chinese alligator have become two different concepts, and the origin of the dragon image has become confusing.
Early dragons had no horns. 1987 A 6000-year-old tomb excavated in Puyang, Henan Province, once found a dragon (alligator sinensis) with a clam shell. The dragon image on painted pottery in Yangshao culture is also a reptile with a big head and a long tail. The image of ceratosaurus can be found in Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Shang bronzes. A bronze ware with dragon pattern unearthed in Shanxi has an upturned nose, an open mouth and sharp teeth, and the decorative patterns on both sides of the body are exactly the same as those of the Chinese alligator. The Yunlong stone carving in Nanshan, Dazu, Sichuan is a vivid image of a Chinese alligator without horns and eyebrows.
Chinese characters are hieroglyphics, and the dragon in Oracle Bone Inscriptions is an animal with a big mouth and a bent body. The pronunciation of the word dragon is an imitation of ray. The ancients regarded the dragon as the god of thunderstorms. In Shan Hai Jing, there is a saying that "Razer has a god and the dragon has a head." According to some records, lightning and thunder inspired the ancients when the storm came, and it was confirmed that lightning and dragons were closely related. So "rumbling" thunder became the pronunciation of the word dragon. Today, the common names of Chinese alligator in southern China are still "Dragon Map" and "Pig Polong".
People's understanding is the reflection of objective reality. Throughout the ages, many records, legends and folk customs about dragons are related to the living habits of Chinese alligators. Chinese alligators live in swamps of rivers and lakes. "Zuo Zhuan" "osawa in the deep mountain, born with dragons and snakes." Dragon (Chinese alligator) and snake are two animals with similar living environment and habits.
The Chinese alligator built a labyrinth underground cave near the water. The cave is 2-3 meters deep from the ground and usually lives in water. As a result, people imagined the magical scene of "the Dragon King lives in the Dragon Palace under water". However, when I saw the Chinese alligator escape because its cave was destroyed every time there was a flood, I thought it was "the Dragon King making waves". I didn't know that Chinese alligators were also victims of floods.
Chinese alligators feed on fish, frogs and mussels. There are many pearls in the clam shell. Crocodiles are ferocious by nature, and they will kill each other if they are hungry for a long time. Some people saw the Chinese alligator fighting for mussels and spit out pearls in their mouths, so there was a saying that "two dragons play with pearls".