Deadly Nadder

The **Deadly Nadder** is a Tracker Class (formerly Sharp class) dragon, which is said to be one of the most beautiful and very fast. They are well known for their poisonous and painful spines, and extremely hot fire that can melt metal or rock easily.

## Appearance

In appearance, the Deadly Nadder is very beautiful and bird-like: it is bipedal and possesses winged forelimbs and it is about the same size as medium sized theropod dinosaurs such as Allosaurus. Its small yet keen eyes, equipped with poor binocular vision, are one of the tools it uses to stalk its targets.

Its body is a vivid colour, with a light beige underbelly, while its wings are mottled, darker shades. In front of its eyes is its curved nasal horn, which is often used to batter opponents; its lower jaw is shorter and wider than its upper, giving it an overbite (this sets it apart from all the other dragons in the film, since -- with the exception of the Night Fury -- they all have underbites).

Ringing its skull are a set of spikes. Coating the tail is a series of spines that can inject venom into a target. When relaxed, its head spikes and venomous tail spines lay flat, and when alarmed, they are shot upward to intimidate its foe. The tail spikes can also be used to make a rattling noise which it makes right before it attacks, similar to rattlesnakes.

## Behavior

In terms of behavior, the Deadly Nadder is very fast and dangerous, though its potency as a hunter is hindered by the blind spot directly above its nose (possibly due to its large horn). As a result, the dragon relies on its keen sense of smell and hearing, often instead of its binocular vision, in order to find its prey. The Deadly Nadder also has, at its disposal, a tail that is covered in bristling poisonous spikes, which are used as projectiles to stun or immobilize its prey. Its tail spikes are its preferred weapon (probably due to the afore-mentioned blind spot). It can launch its tail spikes with devastating speed and accuracy. Its most devastating trait, however, may well be its ability to blow magnesium-fueled flames, which can easily melt metal. The Deadly Nadder is one of the most beautiful dragons, and unfortunately, it knows it. It is well-known for its vanity; it constantly grooms itself to stay clean and maintain the luster of its scales. Like the Night Fury, the Deadly Nadder is a picky eater whose diet comprises mostly of poultry and is allergic to domesticated hoofed animals. However, when it is trained, it becomes very affectionate, not unlike a pet dog, pet cat, pet bird or other sociable creature. These animals love to play fetch.

## Description

The official Website describes Deadly Nadder as follows: *"One of the*
most beautiful dragons in the world is the DEADLY NADDER. It is easily
recognized by the bright blue body and brilliant yellow spikes that
cover it head to tail. This colorful dragon is active any time of the
day or night. Nadders are quick and agile in the air and can fly for
long distances, but will almost always land before attacking. Nadders
travel and raid in groups, making them especially dangerous. The Deadly
Nadder isn't the largest or fastest dragon, but it possesses the hottest
 fire in the dragon world. The blast of a Nadder can melt steel, or turn
 a man to ash in seconds. But the dangers of the Nadder don't stop
there. The tail of the Nadder can be whipped around, releasing a volley
of giant spikes that can penetrate trees, walls, and Vikings."*"A tropically hued fellow who is nastier than he looks.* "He or she has raptor-liked tendencies and is very alert," *DeBlois says.* "He or she is also highly curious and aggressive."
 The Nadder can attack in two ways: Breathing a super-hot fire made of
pure magnesium across hundreds of yards, or shooting off spikes from its
 tail."[2]

## Abilities and Weaponry

As eggs, they even have a special defense method, they have sharp spines to deter predators.

Once they hatch these baby Nadders are notable for spryness and
alert senses. As well they have ability to fly a bit sooner then other
babies such as Gronkles and Zipplebacks.

Deadly Nadders have amazing abilities that set them apart from other dragon species.

They are big enough to do well in combat, but small enough to be fast both on land and in the air. A specimen named Stormfly rivaled Toothless in speed. Astrid discovered that, when put on a diet of chicken, the Nadder's speed increases greatly.[3] They are also quite agile and well-balanced, as Stormfly demonstrated in *Trick Contests*,
 and in the first movie in the Arena. They shown by Flystorm to run
faster than most dragons on land such as Scauldron, Changewing, and
Whispering death.

Nadders have been confirmed to have the hottest fire of all dragon species, despite Hiccup claiming the Fireworm's
 skin when alight is as hot as the sun. Its been said that the Nadder's
fire is hot enough to melt metal, and turn Vikings into ash. Stormfly
also has been seen melting solid rocks.

Despite having one of the most powerful breath weapons, Nadders
mostly rely on their venomous tail spines in combat. They can launch
these from their tail at will, with great accuracy. Though it has never
been confirmed how poisonous the spines are, and what the effects are.

Deadly Nadders also possesses an ability to fire a single spine shot with great accuracy. This has been shown by Snotlout in A Tale of Two Dragons
 when he exchanged dragons with Astrid. Snotlout placed a hand on
Stormfly's front neck, just behind the frill. The reaction caused her to
 fire a single spine shot that had so great accuracy to even slice
another spine through the middle.

Nadder's have a great sense of smell, hence the reason they were reclassified as Tracker Class dragons. According to the Dragonpedia,
 baby Nadders can smell a human from one-hundred feet away, although it
is currently unknown if the distance increases as they mature.

Nadders have shown to have great strength can hold Vikings weight on their back with no sign of struggle. As shown by Flystorm was strong enough to carry Gobber the Belch and Mildew at the same time to keep up the speed with other dragons. Also it can carry heavy loads such as a heavy metal cage with the Lead Stinger inside it, in the air as shown by Stormfly.

Their endurance and stamina are high had shown for these dragons
can fly and run for long distance. In the first film, a Nadder was able
to endure an attack from Stoick the Vast when he threw a heavy object at its body, and it was still able to fly well afterwards.

## Known Nadders

* Stormfly
* Flystorm
* Stormfly's Mate
* Stormfly's Offspring
* Bork Week Nadders
* Puncher

## Trivia

* To train a Deadly Nadder, one must very carefully approach the

dragon from its tail. Then, you must gently smooth its poisonous spikes
down.

* The Deadly Nadder is said to be one of the most beautiful dragon species around.
* A Deadly Nadder can burn a solid rock cliff in few seconds.
* It is said to have the hottest fire in the dragon world, along with the Fireworm.
* The Deadly Nadder used to be a Sharp Class dragon, but was

moved to the Tracker Class in the second film, though it doesn't possess
 many traits of one.

* The Deadly Nadder was originally based on a Parrot, particularly it's wide range of colors and it's body structure.
* A Deadly Nadder made a brief appearance in the Dreamwork's short *Almost Home*, though it was just it's foot.
* Deadly Nadders, particularly Stormfly, were purposely made to

fly much faster than their average speed in Defenders of Berk. This was
shown multiple times such as when Stormfly easily catches up with the
Screaming Death while it was chasing Hiccup, and when Stormfly flew
faster than Toothless to catch up with the Skrill.

* Deadly Nadders are shown to be omnivorous in the episodes How to Start a Dragon Academy, Crushing It and in the Book of Dragons Short, *where it was seen eating fern-like plants.*
* They appear in the Sharp class, according to the Dragon Eye.
	+ However, this is probably an outdated information, providing that the Dragon Eye is an old object