Yet another dragon, eh, dragon thing in pleasant chocolate-cream colors. Anyway, something big, flies, potentially quite dangerous.

This is an idea I was toying with before, how to design the ultimate large soaring flyer. A creature which can truly fly, that is, by the laws of physic it could be airborne, and more, a creature which is capable to perform effortless soaring by the winds like large birds.

First and foremost, there is a reason for that equivalents don't exist in nature. It is a quite unlikely path to take since before the creature could fly, it would be very vulnerable on the ground (still, evolution actually tried this path). But if somehow it could be pulled off, the result could be a very efficient large airborne creature!

A bit of speculative "science"

Why? Having wings evolved from the front legs (or arms) has a quite critical problem: it normally results in the creature having its center of mass quite far behind. Soaring flight is not possible if it is behind the load bearing surfaces since without a pulling force (wingflapping), the creature would pitch up into a stall. Of course birds solved this all fine, the huge chest muscles making the bulk of their mass properly balance them, and they typically have very light hind-part (leg and tail) construction. They however still have slightly sub-optimal airfoils for soaring since the wing supports (the arm bones) are necessarily on the front of the wing (the ideal glider airfoil is thickest around 1/3 distance back from its front edge).

Using the hind legs to construct the wings can get around this problem: such a creature naturally (without further "tweaks") have its center of mass roughly all right for soaring flight, and so it is also possible to expand the wing surface forth to develop a more optimal airfoil. The lizard hip with the ischium and pubis bones could also serve as a good base for evolving a suitable keel for anchoring flight muscles.

To realize a good airfoil, this creature like many other dragon designs from me has air sacs in his wings which inflate for flight. The bulk of the wing is a webbed construction, however about two thirds on the rear is covered by feathers to lengthen it a bit and to add some more rigid support to the inflated webs. He can roll by the outer halves of the wings which are quite well controllable by elongated toes, pitching can be achieved by the large fanned-out tail surface. He also has a dorsal fin for stabilizing and some extra yawing control.

Characteristic of this dragon

This creature would pretty much prefer to stay in the air as much as possible since he is quite encumbered on the ground (even more so than wyverns). Typically he would hunt on open fields such as the African savanna, swooping down and grabbing a helpless animal with his claws, which then he would eat in the air, probably gulping down smaller ones (less than about 80 kilos) in whole. It doesn't strain him to keep flying as he naturally adapted to use the winds, thermal columns to soar without wingflaps.

They would live, sleep, mate, and probably even give birth in the air. Of course they could land, assuming Earth's ecosystem, there is hardly anything which would harm them expect mankind (not that they were so indestructible, but they are so large that especially sitting upright just about every other animal rather avoids them), but rather imagining a different world, they could stay up to avoid large carnivores (such as a Tyrannosaurus or Spinosaurus if going for dinos), just like probably pterosaurs did. They can also easily access cliffsides or small islands inaccessible to land-dwellers dangerous to them.

It is an advantage of this construction that he can eat large and heavy prey and still fly all fine since the stomach is in front of the load-bearing surface, so the center of mass remains right for soaring.

Relations with mankind - is this a dragon?

Well, I drew him so he appears to be a kind of dragon.

However just speculating by his anatomy, he wouldn't really make one in the traditional sense. Conventional dragons usually interact with mankind on the ground, in typical stories they are shown to be frighteningly agile even without flight which obviously doesn't apply to this creature. If he was grounded and had not got fire breath or anything equivalent, he wouldn't be a lot harder to capture than an elephant, provided he isn't much more intelligent than them (elephants are quite intelligent). If he is, he may efficiently use his hands to devise ways to counter a ground assault, making him a more formidable foe.

Depending on how I imagined the actual construction of the wings and its air sacs, he may be more or less vulnerable to arrow fire. Puncturing the wings won't necessarily ground him, but would deteriorate his efficiency. In the air he is not only less vulnerable due to the distance, but also for that most arrows would bounce off from the elastic inflated webs.

If they were quite intelligent, they would likely keep mankind from becoming too dangerous to them, or if technological advancement eventually happens, they would likely ensure they were in control. They have hands, so they are way more dangerous (regarding human independence) on this term than creatures which don't since they can interact well with human technology on their own if they need to (including reading and writing). Assuming this, just about any further direction could be taken.

For vore fans, well, this beast can do it fine. Upon request, he can do it even in the air. He will gulp down anyone below about a hundred kilos not having any odd anatomical feature preventing that, so just about any anthro. No regurgitating, though! If something goes down that path, he will be just too pleased to keep it there! Exceptions occasionally in exceptional situations may happen.