Dinosaurs vs. Dragons!

[StrutEggStealer]

Supposing there's this fight, see? And it's got to do with dinosaurs and dragons, see? But how would one predict such an outcome... see?

Gracious I love talking like that
Vote and leave your thoughts!

[Dosu2Dinner]

Someone should write this battle into a story...

I say dinosaurs. They have more variety, can do ranges of things, and actually exist/existed. But what if dinos like Dracorex, Dracovenator, Draconyx and Dracopelta were to turn double agent...?

[StrutEggStealer]

Now that is a battle I'd like to see. Forgot about those guys...

[bushwacked]

Dragons, always dragons! Unless you're talking about the Pocket-Dragons, then probably dinosaurs.

[rhombus]

It would depend on which mythology we are following for dragons.  I would say that for most dragon mythologies, the dragons would have a distinct advantage over the dinosaurs.

[Pangaea]

Dragons don't exist, so dinosaurs would win by default.

If your definition of "dragon" extends to real creatures that are called by that name, then it depends on the dinosaur and it depends on the dragon. Komodo dragons regularly kill animals as large as deer and wild pigs (For larger prey like water buffalo, they apparently have to inflict wounds, then wait for the animal to succumb to a septic infection picked up in its own swimming hole). So it's no stretch for a Komodo dragon to bring down a small dinosaur (maybe a couple of hundred pounds), or even a small-medium-sized dinosaur if it took a bite, then ran away and waited a few days while the dinosaur took a bath in a stagnant waterhole. But, being an ambush predator, I think any Komodo dragon with a lick of sense would opt to forfeit rather than take on a Protoceratops, a Dryosaurus, or any dinosaur capable of dealing it a damaging bite or kick in a Super Smash Bros.-style face-to-face brawl. And even in an ambush scenario, I doubt a Komodo dragon would chance attacking an adult Ceratosaurus, Triceratops, or Ankylosaurus. If it did, it would probably end badly for the dragon.

The Komodo is the largest and most dangerous real-life "dragon" I know of; bearded dragons, flying dragons, weedy and leafy sea dragons, and dragonets would probably fare far worse in any gladiator-style confrontation with a dinosaur.

[Almaron]

From a fantasy viewpoint, Dragons would win.

[jansenov]

If both dragons and dinosaurs were subjected to rules of our world, the Square Cube Law and the tensile strength of calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate would limit a flying dragon's weight on Earth's surface to that of a dog. On a planet or moon with much weaker gravity and much denser atmosphere, a dragon could reach the weight of a horse.

Under mythological or fantasy rules any outcome is possible. Who's to say some culture wouldn't prefered dinosaurs as protagonists of its myths?

[Pangaea]

If both dragons and dinosaurs were subjected to rules of our world, the Square Cube Law and the tensile strength of calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate would limit a flying dragon's weight on Earth's surface to that of a dog. On a planet or moon with much weaker gravity and much denser atmosphere, a dragon could reach the weight of a horse.

I think a flying dragon could probably get bigger than that, depending on its body plan. The largest pterosaurs (giant azhdarchids like Quetzalcoatlus) are estimated to have weighed 440–550 pounds (200–250 kg). That being said, the body plans of many (perhaps most) well-known fantasy dragons would be physically incapable of flight in real life, if their bodies could be sustained by physics at all. (On that note, I think most of the really formidable dragons in fiction would probably be severely depowered, crippled, or outright killed by an application of real-world physics; another argument in favor of dinosaurs coming out on top in this scenario.)

Under mythological or fantasy rules any outcome is possible.

That's the problem I have with this kind of match-up. Being fictional creatures, there are no set standards for what dragons look like, how big they get, what their abilities are, etc., so pretty much any scenario where a dragon is pitted against a dinosaur is going to be a thrown fight. If it's Smaug from The Hobbit or the "queen" from How To Train Your Dragon against any dinosaur, it's an unfair fight. Not to mention that you have hundreds of species to choose from to represent the dinosaurs' side, not all of which would be particularly suited for fighting a dragon: HTTYD's six-foot-long "Terrible Terror" could be easily crushed by a Stegosaurus, but would probably flambÈ a little Epidexipteryx without much resistance.

Basically, dinosaurs are constrained by reality in terms of size, power, and other factors that would help them in a battle. With dragons, the sky's the limit. If you pick the most powerful dragon to go up against the most powerful dinosaur, it's a grossly unfair fight for the dinosaur. If you pick a weak dragon to go up against a powerful dinosaur, you're deliberately tipping the scales in the dinosaur's favor (That's how I see it, anyway). To me, there's really no version of a dinosaurs vs. dragons battle that could be called fair.

Just a thought I had: in a parallel universe, do you suppose dinosaurs and/or dragons ponder over hypothetical battles between humans, like cops vs. firemen, bums vs. hobos, or drunks vs. stoners?

P.S. Sorry, I don't mean to ruin anyone else's fun. Just stating my views on this subject.

[Dracorider19]

This question is extremely interesting. My first thought would be dragons (and not
because my avatar is a dragon) because, well if we follow the Western mythology of
the dragon, the one with wings and breathes fire, the dragon would have an
easy advantage. So the dragons would win.
Though if they were constrained by cubic law or the reality which other users on this
topic talked about, I wouldn't be sure which would win.