Just because dragons haven''t been proved to exist in the physical world doesn't mean that they hold no claim on reality. Consider the variety of cultures, both Eastern and Western, in our world that have dragons in their mythology -- and the lack of cultures that don''t. How can we explain this prevalence of dragons in myth? Is it any more plausible to say "early racial memories of dinosaurs" (we''re talking tree-shrew early, since dinosaurs haven''t existed for 65 million years) than to consider dragons as real?

But the question of whether dragons are physically real doesn't make a difference in the end. Dragons are mythic creatures (see “what are dragons?") -- and, therefore, are exceptionally real beings to those who choose to accept the myth. That acceptance is a matter of faith ... the same faith that drives people to turn to Christianity or to scientific skepticism (yes, even being a skeptic requires faith -- faith that everything can be neatly parceled up, explained and understood, a faith which not everyone shares).