Do dragons eat the bones too?

[AndrewH]

If the prey is small, cats will eat the bones whole. Of course, most cats (and dogs) don't chew... they simply gulp their food down.

Bones themselves are rich in minerals, primarily calcium and phosphorus. If they can be digested, of course. Don't forget the marrow inside the bones, which is highly nutritious - a great source of protein, fat, vitamins, lecithin, and methionine.

If your dragon gnaws on the bones they'll get the 'natural dentistry' effect which naturally 'brush' and 'floss' the teeth and massage the gums. Though eating bones has a risk of broken teeth, fragments lodged in the mouth, intestinal obstruction, and perforation.

I've always envisioned a dragon as chomping off parts and swallowing them whole. Somehow picturing a dragon sitting there gnawing on a human thigh like I would a chicken wing just doesn't seem right.

[Worldwalker]

Another vote for eating the bones.

Most things which can eat bones, do. Reptiles and ampbhibians certainly do, with the possible exception of scavengers which may be dealing with prey too large to swallow. Birds swallow prey bones and all, except for owls who cough up the indigestible parts (apparently their digestive systems don't work as well as those of other birds). Mammals that eat prey small enough to swallow, or bite apart and swallow, eat it bones and all. Rodents eat any bones they can find; that's why you so rarely find shed antlers in the forest. Calcium and the other bone-forming minerals are a valuable resource. In general, gnawing prey off bones is limited to some primates, some fish, and some of the big cats, as far as I know, and except for the primates, the one thing they all have in common is eating prey larger than themselves. That's unlikely to be the case with your dragon.

[Steven Lake]

Just tossing my 2c into the argument here. Almost all predators eat their prey whole. The only exception is when the bones of the prey are too large to easily ingest. When that's true they will choose to strip the bones instead.

[ReliQ05]

FWIW, In J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit", I don't recall Smaug's "lair" being described as having any bones, only a vast amount of gold and valuable trinkets.

[John Carroll]

So I've been thinking about this and reading all the posts. Sorry for being quiet for a while.

The dragon is a major character in the book. He's extemely powerful, but also a bit off the wall . . . as are most of my characters. *grin* I've thought of what was right for the character and he's the sort of dragon who gnaws on bones, especially if it will unnerve someone.

I'm not sure about the rest of the details. At the moment, he doesn't have a lair, for reasons I won't give away. As far as the physiology of dragons go, I can get away with not defining that for reasons I won't go into because they're spoilers.

Sooooooo, In this world, dragons gnaw on bones mostly because it terrifies humans.

Thank you all so very much for the input. It really helps to hear different viewpoints.

[Dodge]

I would think -

1.) If the dragon is hungry or upset enough he would eat the whole person.

-or-

2.) If he's just enjoying his catch-of-the-day he's going to chew on the meat and use the bones to clean his teeth.