Rare 'Baby Dragons' Recorded Hatching in Slovenia Cave
Inside Slovenia's Postojna cave came hundreds of people patiently queuing up to witness a cannot-be-missed occasion of an extremely rare birth of 'baby dragons'.
Recorded live on camera, the hatching of the baby slivery creatures known as 'olm' has captivated onlookers fascinated with the rare reptilian species that was once cited as a scientific evidence that dragons once roamed the earth.
The ancient underwater creature is touted to live up to 100 years and known to breed only once in ten years.
"A mere two baby olms successfully hatch from 500 eggs in nature. Although both science and researchers' previous experience gave us almost zero chance that the drama unfolding in the cave aquarium before our very eyes would have a happy ending... we had faith it would happen," the scientists said in a statement as quoted by Independent.
Olm has been Slovenia's national symbol for a long time and even featured on the country's currency before Euro was introduced across the EU. Slovenians are now fondly talking about the media-hyped of their so-called 'baby dragons.' For centuries, however, locals were afraid to go anywhere near the cave. In an age where mythological fire-breathing dragons were considered a fact, the cave was thought of as a sanctuary for the dragons' offspring.
As per The Journal, the reptiles have undeveloped eyesight but are equipped with highly acute sensory organs for detecting smell and movement which make them excellent hunters in the dark narrow alleys of the cave searching for crabs and snails. In addition, the small eel-like predator can reportedly survive without eating for about a decade.
More than a century ago, renowned evolutionary British scientist Charles Darwin offered olms' sightless feature as a glaring example of natural selection process. He was reportedly offered to keep some olm specimens but declined for fear of not being unable to keep the fragile creatures alive, BBC News reported.
