On January 29, in places like China, Malaysia, Korea and Chinatowns across the globe, dragons will rise in the form of massive puppets. Today we bring you a special Terrestrials episode on dragons to understand what they have to do with the New Year, what the dragon myth means, and explore the tiny chance that dragons could have ever been real.

First, we meet Mr. Lu Dajie, one of China's most renowned dragon dancers, who tells us about the significance of dragons in China. Then producer bud Ana and song bud Alan ask whether there’s any chance that dragons were ever real. And if not, could we make a dragon out of the things already evolved on Earth? Were there any reptiles as large as and shaped like dragons? Any large reptiles that flew? Any that spat fire? The answers may surprise you.

Terrestrials was created by Lulu Miller with WNYC studios. This episode was produced by Ana González, Alan Goffinski, Mira Burt-Wintonick, Tanya Chawla, Sarah Sandbach, Joe Plourde, and Lulu Miller. Fact-checking by Diane Kelly.

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Build-A-Dragon (Replay)

Terrestrials