Firstly I would like to thank the Department of Anatomy for Veterinary Medicine of the VYY University in Turkey for taking x-rays of sixty different parakeets for these findings.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10766023/#vms31340-bibl-0001
In this paper we can note that the L1 and L7 measurements in Table 1 refer to the width of the cranial position of the ilium, and the distance between the cranial end of the ilium and the caudal end of the pubis on the same side of the pelvis respectively. Next we can note that in Table 4 the L7/L1 ratios are given, with females having an average ratio of 3.35, and males an average of 3.86. This means that the width of the pelvis as compared to its length has a ratio biased more towards width in females, relative to males. Or another way to think about this; if a female’s pelvis were as long(tall) as a male’s it would be 13% wider. This is of course no surprise, as female birds lay eggs. Birds being dinosaurs, the model clade that inspired many features on dragons, are therefore also models for Dracthyr implementation.
Additionally, if you look up guides on how to identify the sex of common lizard pets like skinks, you will be told to look at the width of the hips compared to the body, and the thickness of the tail. Again, unsurprisingly, females will have relatively wider hips and thicker tails.
We can also take a look at some other features on dinosaurs, such as the Southern Ground Hornbill, or Secretary Bird, to see that large, bipedal reptiles have long gorgeous eyelashes. https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2B66K03/the-long-eyelashes-of-a-secretary-bird-2B66K03.jpg and https://d3jf2jipiivcgq.cloudfront.net/c03fd9a07fdcb5faca174fd8beb79cdedb7bb698.jpg
When looking at large warmblooded reptiles we can also see that the scale patterns Blizzard gave to the dragons in Dragonflight are accurate, as reconstructions of integument for the “Sue” T-Rex model have a tough, scaled, yet leathery hide, with the patterns being LESS evident on the belly, just like the dragons from Dragonflight. Yet in Dracthyr, this paradigm is reversed, with the anterior torso having rough, overlapping scales, and the posterior having, although still too large and quite visible, scales that are at least flush with the body.
This is compounded by the decisively problematic bug where female Dracthyr of non-Evoker classes will play male combat and hurt sounds. This has been bug reported many times since Dracthyr were added, here’s one from 2022. Wrong audio with female dracthyr played
Generally, my suggested Dracthyr improvements can be summarized as follows:
A: REALISTIC sexual dimorphism: Give the females wider hips, thicker tails and legs. (outlined above)
B: Realistic non-dimorphic options: eyelashes (outlined above), better jaw and skull shapes similar to the theropod like options seen on dragons in Dragonflight (I know dragons aren’t real, but if you look at Alexstrasza, the head is quite clearly heavily inspired by that of a T Rex, with virtually identical overall proportions and layouts, excluding the horns.), better scale options like those found on large warmblooded reptiles in real life, such as smooth options with diamond scale patterns, like the actually very representative dragon scales found on the new base dragon model from DF.
Also better wing attachments, our wings are literally just glued on, nearly at the center of the spine as well, and not where the most realistic attachment point would be, the scapula, near to the humerus.
C: Transmog
D: Fix bugs regarding the female combat and hurt sounds for non-Evoker classes being incorrectly replaced with the male sounds. Bug NOT present on Evoker class.
Edit: additional materials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbKRtPxDj-k
How to tell male from female skinks, refer to 1:50
https://lucris.lub.lu.se/ws/files/4416984/625055.pdf
Differences in inter-limb length, head size, and weight in male/female Snow skinks.
