Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and
Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind focusing on on mythical creatures,
Speaker 1: ideas and monsters in time. From green dragons to golden dragons,
Speaker 1: from solar dragons to lunar dragons. The world of Dungeons
Speaker 1: and Dragons has well a lot of dragons. One variety
Speaker 1: that hasn't officially seen the light of day since second
Speaker 1: edition is the salt dragon of the Forgotten Realms setting.
Speaker 1: These pale, yellow and white dragons were said to inhabit
Speaker 1: salt encrusted lands, and their breath weapon was fittingly salt
Speaker 1: themed as well. They expelled a cone of salt crystals
Speaker 1: that could blind and wound enemies both above and beneath
Speaker 1: the water. While there are no true salt dragons in
Speaker 1: the natural world, we do have the Galapagos marine iguana,
Speaker 1: an endemic algae eating iguana species that adapted to thrive
Speaker 1: on the isolated islands of the Galapacos. These are marvelous
Speaker 1: creatures to watch, sometimes comical and amusing, as they bask
Speaker 1: on shore side rocks and landings, but utterly graceful in
Speaker 1: the water. While the shore, they frequently appear to sneeze.
Speaker 1: This is actually a means of clearing excess salt from
Speaker 1: their bodies via special glands at the nostrils. The resulting
Speaker 1: salt crystals sometimes encrust the thorny heads of the lounging creatures,
Speaker 1: giving them an even saltier appearance. Those horny protrusions on
Speaker 1: the head, by the way, helps scrape algae away from
Speaker 1: the rocks during feeding. So for the marine iguana, salt
Speaker 1: sneezes are a means of removing excess levels of salt
Speaker 1: from the body, not a means of defense. Though even
Speaker 1: Charles Darwin in his book The Voyage of the Beagle
Speaker 1: described the act as follows quote. They do not seem
Speaker 1: to have any notion of biting, but when much frightened,
Speaker 1: they score to drop a fluid from each nostril. First
Speaker 1: impressions surely, as the basking iguanas seemed to regularly admit
Speaker 1: salt regardless of perceived fright Still, this curious feature allows
Speaker 1: us an avenue by which to imagine the physiology of
Speaker 1: a fantastic salt dragon. Instead of expelling all of its
Speaker 1: excess salt. Perhaps the giant fantastic creature is able to
Speaker 1: safely store the crystals or concentrated sailing solution inside its
Speaker 1: body for later use as a defensive or offensive breath weapon.
Speaker 1: Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week.
Speaker 1: As always, you can email us at contact at stuff
Speaker 1: to bill your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your
Speaker 1: Mind is a production of I Heart Radio. For more
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