I love getting my hands dirty and coming face to face with science. Today's topic: wild dragons! You may think you know everything about the dragons you've trained, but remember that dragons have natural instincts that help them survive in their habitat. To complete this assignment, you need to find Fishlegs at Berk.
[Your Viking's Name]! Isn't it exciting? I love the opportunity to help Phlegma teach her class. She thought my dragon expertise made me perfectly suited to explain about social predators and cooperative hunting! The subject of today's lesson is the Scauldron! The Scauldron is a Tidal Class dragon that lives mostly in the sea. They come to the surface to get oxygen and dive back down to eat. Scauldrons are really vicious dragons, so we need to take precautions to be safe around wild Scauldrons. The Book of Dragons says that Vikings should drench themselves with water to approach Scauldrons. Take a shower at the waterfall under Berk!
Now you're ready to go on a Scauldron Safari! Meatlug and I spotted a Scauldron earlier near Berk. It should still be by these waters. Let's fly around until we can spot these majestic aquatic dragons!
Don't worry! I'm covered with sea water so they don't want to eat me ... but they might steal all the fish I've managed to catch. Good for the dragons but terrible for Berk Vikings! Can you pick these barrels up before the Scauldrons eat them all?
The Scauldrons work together in a pod, a social group of marine animals like whales, to find its food. Did you see how the two dragons hunted together from different directions? The Scauldrons are more successful at finding food while working together. This is called cooperative hunting! Cooperative hunting is an adaptation, a special skill that helps the Scauldrons survive. The Scauldrons that lived in pods survived to pass their genes to the next generation while Scauldrons that lived solo died out due to natural selection. Scauldrons evolved over generations to favor this adaptation. Now that the dragons have enough food to eat, they'll be headed back to safety. I wonder where they're going? Let's follow them!
Cute little baby Scauldrons! Awww! These babies travel with the adults, eating the food that they find and learning the behaviors that a successful wild Scauldron needs to survive. The adults in the group, or pod, will defend the babies if a predator come near. This makes sure the baby can grow up to be a strong Scauldron in the Broad Wing stage of maturity! Okay! Let's leave the wild dragons alone. They can get really territorial around their young ... if they think we're threatening the baby, they could attack us! Will you go to Bucket at Berk and drop off the fish we rescued from Mulch's boat?
Fishlegs told me that you were an excellent student. Good! I expect great things from a strong Viking like you, [Your Viking's Name]. Social dragons like Scauldrons live and hunt together in groups so they can find food together, defend themselves together, and react to changes happening in the habitats around them. This group behavior helps make sure that the dragons can protect their babies and continue their genetic line!
