Does an image show a “Welsh Dragon” on someone’s finger? Fact Check

An image of what appears to be a small dragon creature on the end of someone’s finger has sporadically spread across the Internet over the last handful of years along with the caption that it depicts a young Welsh dragon.

The photo, below, has been spreading online for a number of years, with various captions. An example from 2017 claims a heatwave is “prematurely hatching the eggs of the Welsh dragon”. See below –

Please take great care out in the hills and mountains of Wales today. The heatwave is prematurely hatching the eggs of the Welsh dragon (Y Ddraig Goch). If you come across a baby dragon just leave it be. DO NOT TAKE IT HOME! Dragons do not make good pets, they very quickly get too hot to handle

The photo was also used in a 2018 prank that claimed the “first Welsh dragon born in over 500 years has been successfully hatched at Bangor University”. Another older caption attributed to the photo claimed that dragons would be reintroduced to Wales.

Dragons to be reintroduced to Wales after an absence of more than a 1000 years , local conservation groups say they are pleased by the move that will put a large predator back in the food chain ….

Regardless of the caption that came attached to the photo, it is, of course, completely fake. The image has been digitally altered to make it appear like a dragon. A reverse image search reveals the photo was entered into a “Create a Dragon” Photoshop competition back in 2008.

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The original image used to create the artwork appears to show a baby bat on the tip of someone’s finger, see below, similar to this photo.

While many have circulated the image as a joke or prank, many have believed the photo is genuine, though we suspect (or hope) most may have stopped short of believing the creature to be an actual dragon! Either way, the photo isn’t real.