Oooooh! A neat idea with the bioluminesence! I bet that would look just wild to see. n.n

There seems to be very few differences between males and females! It might make hitting on one at the bar a little awkward, especially if there isn't a male and female there to tell the size difference! ;)

You'd still be able to see the faintly glowing patterns on a male's wings - though the hatchling eye-mark is pretty faint when they're not fired up. And males develop the four 'tusky' teeth fairly early on, though if it's dark in a bar one might overlook that. The presence of a forward-opening sheath would clinch it, though - and since I can't see me/them wearing clothes.... it'd be pretty obvious.

I'm working on a front-view of a male in full threat display now just because I want to see how those two wings, held straight up and fingertips angled forward, show a much "bigger" creature with glowing green eyespots :D

I second Skyshadows comment, the bioluminesence is a cool idea. Perhaps at some point you could do a close up study of the head on a male and female to show that difference?

As for clothing, out side of needs of environment or a given task there really a cultural thing, and frankly from hat I see they should be pretty rugged yes?

I'll give it a shot - I do have plans for some behavioural sketches between packmembers like mutual grooming; showing how a male will groom the back of a fellow packmember (since they can't reach for themselves) will give an opportunity to show the enlarged teeth.

Far as it goes, even if Walkingdeaths DID need clothes... they don't have the right kind of sentience to know they do. A cold Walkingdeath will huddle with packmates or shiver; an overheated Walkingdeath will hide in the shade, hide underwater or beat their wings to drive cooler air over the veins (and heat's MUCH worse than cold for them)... in some senses of the word, they're not actually "anthropomorphic" at all, since they neither look nor think like humans - but they are still sentient creatures in their own right. I'm not sure they're SAPIENT, but they are as intelligent as their environment requires.

sounds like there not into being polite company. Eating people just doesn't go far in making friends.

As for sapient, well if they can convey complex ideas to each other, such as planning ahead for flooding, or a drought a few years in advance is close enough for me. One does not have to be a rocket scientist to be sapient imho.

Eh, they don't eat "people" (their own kind) ... they just don't see OTHER creatures as people! They can be TAUGHT that another creature is "a funny-looking pack member" and they'll defend THAT creature - though it may not extend to ALL members of that creature's species... but they don't see other species as anything more than "potential prey/potential predator".

They're probably not sapient, either - even by that definition. They react to their environment rather than changing it. They're not agrarian, they have territories they hold (and if there's a flood they either move to higher ground or die).

ah ok just highly developed animal intelligence then.

If I call them cute, would it get me cuffed? And in so, in which sense?

Lovely creatures, and fine artwork.

That's a cool concept.

Yes, males and females both have the opalescent sheen. I'm just not happy with how I draw it at the moment and I'm trying some alternatives to see if I can make it look more like it does in my mind's eye.

Oh that's so cool! I like the color contrast.

very interesting threat display; how does bioluminescnse get affected by diet? and is each male's pattern individual, like an orcas dorsal?

The specific types of bacteria can be affected by the bacteria present in the food which is eaten - particularly, the colours will vary between animals from different areas simply because the precise species of bacteria native to the area will differ. The green bacteria in Death-Walking eyes and the hatchling eyespots are essentially 'inoculated' into the eggs from the female parent - but the bacteria that form the patterns can be a mix of the green bacteria plus bacteria picked up in the diet.

As far as the markings on a male's wings - yes, they are individual - the eye spots can vary slightly in shape, the overall general DESIGN of the wing markings is similar - but the precise markings are unique to each animal. Although as an animal ages, the amount of patterning on the wings increases... a big old jack may have wings that are almost completely luminescent.

Intriguing.. are they used in mating as well as threat displays? it would be quite a sight for an elder male to be seducing a young lady:)

I would guess that if they ARE used in mating displays, it would be shows of the backs of the wings, which are not quite as bright or intimidating. Any display done towards a female would have totally different posturing and gesturing so as not to be confused with threat/warning displays.

Generally speaking, aiming both eyespots at something over your head is a way of saying "I'm bigger than you and if you don't back down I'm going to go for you" - so it wouldn't be something used by a male towards a female UNLESS he was trying to drive her out of his mate's hunting grounds.

Granted, that's probably because FEMALES will display at other females that way - wings up, head high, threatening - despite not having the shiny, shiny wingsails. And in the case of females, that threat display doesn't last long. If the displays don't work in fairly short order, females will fight much more readily than males. This would be entirely because females hold territory and mates; another unrelated female is a direct threat to the resident females.

intriguing way of having a matriarchal society, females protecting mates and territory.. how do the males serve the female, out of curiousity?

Males are smaller, slightly more manoeuverable, and generally make better predators on land - they can work together as a coordinated pack to hunt landbound prey. Females tend to prefer a more ambush-predator style and tend to hunt from water more often; this works for dragging down large prey, but it isn't as reliable. Typically speaking a walkingdeath pack is composed of one or two dominant females and anywhere from two to a dozen males of various ages, plus chicks.

I'm starting to think that they might be incubation temperature sex dependent - I can't work out any other reason why males are so much more common than females unless the mothers practice infanticide and weed out the weakest female hatchlings, leaving only the strongest one to survive, where males tend to have much better survivability.

hurm, it could be that, or it could be deliberate genetic tionkering by evolution, like in salmon, where you get a dozen females for one male, but in reverse. It could also be the concitions mom raises them in, since the males are smaller and lighter, it's easier for them to catch smaller, lighter prey in their early years, vs. females who would tend toward larger prey, and therefore, more likely to starve once they leave the nest.

Ssthisto-dragons in numbers ! Awesome ! ;3

Intricate difference between genders is deservant of highest praise, since usually sexual dimorphism of species rarely seen in the wild is far less subtle. Anatomy is formidably worked out as well, I have little to no doubt that these critters would fare well in our enviromental conditions. Bioluminiscent markings are, well, beautiful and intimidating simultaneously - they sure can do the trick ;3

Awesome! I've never seen anyone use fired up terminology for their dragons. Do you keep herps?

*chuckle* Just a few....

3.6 Leopard Geckos, 1.2 African Fat-Tailed Geckos, 1.0 Crested Gecko, 1.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu, 1.0 Nile Monitor, 1.0.1 Scheltopusik, 0.2.1 Slow worms, 1.0 Lacerta species, 3.4 Corn snakes, 1.2 Colombian rainbow boas, 1.1 Texas rat snakes, 1.0 Everglades rat snake, 1.0 Western Hognose, 1.2 Lamprophis species African House Snakes, 1.0 Mexican black king snake, 0.1 California king snake, 1.3 Royal Pythons, 1.0 RedtailXCommon boa, 2.2 Kenyan Sand boas, 0.1 Roughscaled sand boa, 0.1 Mueller's sand boa.... and I always feel like I'm forgetting someone.

That is really cool, and I think your art reflects your knowledge of them, too! Your dragon anatomy is awesome and unique.

I miss keeping herps. I used to belong to the local herp-keeper's association, and kept many, though not quite as many as you. XD I loooove fat-tailed geckos, they're one of my favorites, and their markings are so awesome! How big is your nile monitor? I love their faces, they're so elegant. My parents have kept snakes since the '60s, so I grew up with them.

Our Nile, Diablo, is quite small - if he still had the tip of his tail he'd be about forty inches long maximum. He's seven years old, however, sexed male, and is almost certainly some sort of dwarf (whether it's developmental or genetic we'll never know).

I do rather like the little fat-tails :) That said, I'm still thrilled to pieces with our latest arrivals - a pair of spotted pythons (Antaresia maculosa) and a lovely little hybrid ratsnake male (half corn, half Japanese ratsnake) that I got for my birthday :)