Dragons, Dogs & Amadillos?

[Jorge_Stolfi]

Unfortunately, there are many options for scaled creatures. I wrote about this in 2019: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. If the thing actually has (reversed) scales (and not scallop-patterned wool or fur), then arguing about the exact species depicted is pointless, as Lisa said in the other thread.

I think it is safe to assume it is scales, not wool.  Bad as the VMS art is, I cannot imagine how a sheep or any other species common in Europe could have mutated into that thing.

If the animal was cribbed from an European book, it could be a dragon, griffin, or the other fictional animals you mention, like the kylion and karabo (hmmm, ... but wait, could those be echos of the pangolin, too?)

But if the animal was copied by the Scribe from a sketch provided by the Author, there is the possibility that it was a real animal.With scales, by the same argument above.   And then a pangolin seems to be the most likely option. 

The Author need not have seen the beast himself; he could have copied it some non-European book, painting, pottery, carving, etc.

The direction of the scales and other differences are details that the Author and/or Scribe could have got wrong.  By comparing the Herbal plants with their "ghosts" in Pharma we get an idea of how (un)reliable the process was for that kind of detail.

All the best, --stolfi