Alaspinian Miniature Dragons, better known as Alaspinian Minidrags or simply Minidrags, are a non-sapient species of winged serpentine creatures from the planet Alaspin, and are rarely found away from their homeworld.
Biology[]
Minidrags are serpentine creatures, about a meter long, with a pair of leathery wings. Despite their reptilian appearance, they are both viviparous and warm-blooded. Their diet is principally carnivorous, but they also enjoy grains, breads and sugars, and have a particular preference for foods with an elevated iron content. This is because they need lots of hemoglobin to provide oxygen for their hummingbird-like flight pattern, which consumes a lot of energy. They have cutting teeth and long tongues that can be used to snatch food, such as raisins, which they seem to be particularly fond of. They have iridescent scales and make hissing sounds. Their poison can kill a man in one minute.
Strictly speaking, Minidrags are poisonous, not venomous. They have no fangs to inject their toxins into another creature with. Instead, they contract their throat musculature and spit the poison through a cartilaginous tube on the roof of their mouths. They can spit farther and with more precision than an Earth cobra. The poison is corrosive and highly irritant, causing those who are sprayed to scratch the area and thus introduce the toxin into the bloodstream, where it becomes almost instantaneously fatal. Minidrag poison can corrode almost any kind of material, including metals and pancrylic.
Minidrags are naturally arboreal, and have nictitating membranes that protect their eyes from the wind. They are nocturnal and can see well in the dark. Additionally, they have an empathic ability which allows them to sense the emotions of other creatures. Minidrags can bond with certain individuals and will become fiercely protective of them, using their empathic sense to detect whether other beings represent threats to them or to those they are bonded with. Wild Minidrags typically associate with Dryzams on their homeworld.