how do dragons fly? (Spoilers all books to end DH)

[redchild]

Who says the acid is just there becuase its more natural. I can easily see a scenario where an animal has sacs with gasses that, when coming in contact with each other, burst into flame. These would be sprayed into the air and light up. Turning the creature into a fire breather.

Hobb doesn't seem to be emphasizing fire-breathing ability into her dragons, though there is the possibility that the acid is flammable.

I dont think I've know of any animal which has a poison with similar properties to a dragons acids.

Many animals produce acid in their stomachs for digestion, so it's not impossible to imagine that dragons could have acid producing glands/sacs that are specially designed to contain and eject acid. It's just that dragon acid is much much more acidic, seeing as it can burn holes in a ship and everything. Hydrochloric acid could probably do the same, but at a much slower rate.

Hobb probably got the inspiration of acids from various venoms and toxin producing animals. Spider venom dissolves the soft insides of their exo-skeletal prey into slush, though I doubt the dragons need to soften their food with acid. Komodo dragons have highly toxic bacteria in their saliva that can kill prey that got away. The way dragons use their acid is a lot more aggressive and quicker than the way spiders or komodo dragons use their toxins, though. As sea serpents, they produce clouds of venom that act like nerve toxins found in species like jellyfish or sea snails. I don't remember if they still have this ability as dragons, but I imagine they can.

---

one of the biggest problems with fire-breathing theorem, is that while tooth enamel is quite strong, it is not suited for repeated exposure to fire... the only way to explain away a true fire-breather would be to have it magically generate the fire just outside its mouth...

Good point. Perhaps there would also have to be some sort of organ that ignites the flammable liquid as it leaves the mouth. And the dragon would have to maintain a forceful jet, otherwise the flames will spread up the stream and burn the dragon's throat.