Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. Its eyes glow brightly at night, and it enjoys attacking insects and small animals.

And look! It has grown wings! It must be close to maturing.

Young dragons are relatively defenseless. They are born with relatively soft scales, which are shed and replaced with harder ones as the hatchling matures. Once a hatchling’s wings grow in, it typically marks the beginning of maturation. At this point they are often capable of hunting on their own and are usually left alone by their mother.

Aussie Nessie, named after the Loch Ness Monster (only in Australia), would have grown up if not for one fact: he was male. Another male black dragon in Devonrain Clan would cause chaos and a battle between Nite Eye and him to see the rightful owner of the position of Clan Leader. In fact, almost all fully-grown male Black Dragons are trying to overthrow Nite Eye. Aussie Nessie, even when he was an ungendered unfrozen hatchling always seemed a bit bloodthirsty. He said that Nite Eye was a coward for not trying to gain more territory by battle. He is far too intellectual for a hatchling, and he is always planning battles against Alpinesmoke, the enemy clan of Devonrain. All of the anti-Nite Eye dragons think he'd make a good leader, so they are trying to get Dracthya Macabero to invent a potion or spell to unfreeze him.