The Saharan Dragon (Draco maghrebus) - Found in the deserts of North Africa, was nocturnal and fed on anything available, often staking out a particular oasis or watering hole and preying on wild camels, antelope, and the like. Implicated in the extinction of giraffes in the region (disappeared by the first century AD), and may have contributed to the demise of North African elephants (gone from the Sahara by 1000 BC).
 There is a long history of interaction between the Saharan Dragon and humans. The stone age frescoes at Tessili n’Ajjer, a forbidding plateau 900 miles southeast of Algiers, in a series of over 800 paintings faithfully ancient Saharan life. Discovered in 1956 by French explorer-ethnologist Henri Lhote, they provide a unique glimpse into the Sahara of old. Once the region was much more green and fertile than it is today, and was home to large numbers of giraffe, elephants, and gazelles. Depicted on the protected stone walls of niches and shelters the ancient humans of the Tassili plateau drew what they saw, including many excellent illustrations of the Saharan Dragon, showing dragons hunting, in repose, and attacking all manner of human and wild animal. It is clear from the illustrations that humankind has long feared the mighty dragon. Over time as they went extinct elephants and giraffes were no longer depicted, but the fearsome dragon remain, looming large in the thoughts of the artists that created the images.
        Saharan Dragons were much feared by the ancient Egyptians, leading them to eventually worship such evil gods as Set as personifications of them, and discouraging any settlement beyond the Nile Valley. The tombs of Egyptian kings were said to be watched over by them, and the fear of them discouraged grave robbing to a large extent.  Indeed, even tombs in the Nile Valley were safe until the dragon became extinct along the Nile sometime around 1100 B.C.  Dragons were often the subject of Egyptian artwork, and late in the history of ancient Egypt they were ceremoniously mummified as were many other animal species (notably cats), in the belief that embodied some part of the spirit of their patron god.
              The Donatists of Numidia and Mauretania – a breakaway group of the Catholic Church in North Africa in the 4th century AD – did their best to exterminate local populations of the Saharan Dragon. Lead at first (and named for) the Numidian Donatus, who they set up as a rival bishop to the bishop of Carthage, they preached that man must actively fight evil here on Earth. This included killing dragons, which were though to be God’s opponents and demons incarnate. The Donatists weren't terribly successful (partially because of actions on the part of the Byzantine emperor), and were largely eliminated as a group when the Vandals invaded in 429.
        The northerly populations of this voracious predator, "sharks of the desert," were wiped out during the Arab conquests of the 10th century. As legend has it, Ubaidallah, founder of the Fatmid dynasty that conquered north Africa, Sicily, Egypt, Syria, and western Arabia by 969, slew the last Saharan dragon in the region himself. More likely the demands of the conquering Arabs, as well as the actions of merchants from the commercial successful Fatmids spelled the end to the Saharan Dragon.
        Extinct in North Africa, this species continued to live on to the south near the beginnings of sub-Saharan Africa. They were largely responsible for the collapse of caravans to Timbuktu, preventing the growth of that African power. The Kingdom of Mali, of which the Timbuktu was a part of, long believed that the Saharan Dragons protected them, but as caravans to the area increased – particular Muslim Arab traders in the 11th century – the camels and humans provided ideal prey for these viscous predators. As one Spanish traveler, Abu Hamid al-Andalusi wrote “In the sands of that country is gold, treasure inexpressible . . . and dragons.”  Practicing fiercely their own version of Islam, those who chose not to embrace the teachings of the Koran were put in chains and set out in the desert, to await the judgement of the dragons, who more often than not would gladly eat the unfortunate individual.  In the end though the dragons help cause the demise of the Kingdom of Mali, and acted to prevent any civilization to rival the Europeans from forming, though other historians pin the blame elsewhere.
        The last dragons were thought to have been killed by either Berber or Tuareg tribesmen in the 18th century. Even though after their demise, they loom large in the imaginations of many. In the 1920s Moroccan Berber resistance leader Abd el-Krim styled himself the “Dragon of Morocco” in his leadership of the Rif Berbers first against the Spanish and later the French. The dragons were implicated in the death of lost American bomber pilots in Libya during World War II. Expeditions were launched for many years after that in search of them, and are still believed by many to exist today.  However, these believers are akin to those who believe in UFOs, and their ways are not given much credence.  The dried out mummies of dragons they offer up as "proof" of their existence have shown by testing to have perished centuries ago, uniquely preserved by the hyperaridity and absent bacteria in some areas of the desert. Currently, a Japanese expedition is looking to find such a mummy and obtain enough DNA for cloning.

        The Lake Chad Dragon (Draco paelochadian) - Another remnant dragon species, 2 million years ago thrived along the shores of the Paleochadian or "Ancient Chad" Sea, which covered more than 100,000 square miles of central Africa. As the water levels shrank dramatically to only 10 percent of the original area, the species has declined precipitously since then. The dragons had to adapt to seasonal fluctuations in lake size, which today can vary from between 4,000 and 10,000 square miles, and as a result the packs move great distances each year.
        Living in such a remote region, the Lake Chad Dragon has managed to survive even today, but is in danger from poaching for its hides and teeth, belief to promote male virility by many sub-Saharan Africans. Chad and Nigeria have established Dragon International Peace Park to protect the last numbers, but are not having any success in doing so. Large numbers were killed during the Biafran war by Ibos who wished to use dragon products to fund their civil war, their numbers thinned by mercenaries. Though not native to their region of Nigeria, the Biafrans painted dragons upon their aircraft, particularly the Swedish MFI-9B light attack aircraft led by Count Carl Gustav von Rosen of Sweden, dubbed the “Minidragons” thanks to their small size but considerable bite. As each aircraft, normally a twin-seater sport plane, mounted six rockets under each wing, these minidragons had some bite. Alas, they were not enough of them to save the breakaway Biafrans. The numbers of Lake Chad Dragons have not recovered since those days, and are the subject of considerable attention by the World Wildlife Fund and others.

Dragons of-

           EUROPE- The Mediterranean or Common Dragon, and the Medeira Dragon.

           AFRICA- The Saharan Dragon, and the Lake Chad Dragon.

           ASIA- The Arabian Dragon, and the Great Thar Dragon.

           THE PACIFIC- The Malaysian Dragon, the Ryukyu Dragon and the New Zealand Dragon.

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