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Description
My favorite legendary and top 10 favorite Pokémon, I've been drawing this handsome beast since I was a wee lass. Through all these years, however, I have always seen Lugia as a dragon, not a bird. Now that I'm a biology graduate, I still hold onto that view and now have more knowledge of biology that help me argue this point.

First, let's look at the inspiration and symbolism of Ho-Oh and Lugia, because understanding how they are seen as an essential duo helps understand how each of them functions and what they symbolize. If you only want to hear my biology argument, scroll down to the "biological reasons" section. You can argue that this duo ISN'T specifically this duo of Fenghuang and Long, but after reading a bunch of these sources (AND remembering seeing the word "HoO" in a book talking about the Japanese/Chinese phoenix, completely separated from Pokémon), it's really hard for me to NOT see this correlation and the amount of similarities. As a basic summary of all the sources put together, Long and Fenghuang are the dragon and phoenix (respectively) seen inextricably linked together. Long represents yin, weather, water, power, nobility, wisdom, the emperor and man while Fenghuang represents yang, femininity, grace, healing, virtue, prosperity, hope, happiness, and the empress. When they are depicted together, they represent unity, harmony, peace, and balance and are often used in wedding ceremonies to provide the couple with a harmonious, long-lasting union. Long controls weather events (particularly rain and floods), are benevolent (unless people piss them off), and Fenghuang only appears in times of peace to bring prosperity. Japan's equivalent is "Ryuu", which share many of the same characteristics as the Long, from their wisdom, power, masculine energy, responsibility for weather events, benevolence (although there are a few more malicious dragons in Japan), honors those who pay it respect, symbolism of royalty and the emperor, and hide their true form, choosing to live in hidden places, notably the ocean (Ryujin has an oceanic palace) and bodies of water. Other Pokémon with more obvious inspiration of these historical dragons are the Dragonite line, Gyarados, Rayquaza
In many of these sources, Fenghuang isn't exactly the burning and rebirthing phoenix as seen in the Western Phoenix and isn't even necessarily linked to fire, but Ho-Oh definitely takes a plethora of inspiration from the Western Phoenix-iridescent feathers (Arabian), fiery death and rebirth (Greek, Egyptian, Turkish, Arabia), and of course fire. In all these phoenix depictions, they have brilliant feathers, usually with the color red and gold, and all represent hope, grace, and virtue. Here's Ho-Oh's name explained in this passage from page 4 of the"Multicultural Meanings of Sol" doc: "The Japanese phoenix bears a great deal of resemblance to that of the Chinese. It too, is considered a symbol of the merger of male and female, with Ho representing the male side and Oo representing the female side. This version of the bird, called the HoOo, was believed only to appear when a ruler of great virtue sat upon the throne, heralding in a period of peace and prosperity for the Japanese people." I have plenty more to say about the East Asian Fenghuang/HoO and the phoenix in general, so definitely check out the sources I have linked below to get some more insight into its symbols.

Enough with Ho-Oh, what about the argument of Lugia being related to the Chinese Long and Japan's Ryuu? It doesn't have the talons of an eagle, the scales of a carp, the eyes of a demon, deer horns, ox ears, and tiger paws (and "abdomen of a cockle"["Dragon in Chinese Mythology"] Okay?). However, Lugia does have several personality and ability traits of these dragons, and even three toes of the Japanese dragon (in the original Sugimori design).
An interesting line from a Masters in English, from the "Dragon in Chinese Mythology" link: "However, what may most characterize the dragon is its association with transformation. The dragon represents change and adaptability, and in fact can change its physical form." While Lugia isn't characterized by doing such (Chinese and Japanese dragons frequently turned into humans (and sometimes other creatures) it is shown to be quite adaptable. Lugia chose to live in the ocean because it didn't want to hurt people with its wings! Not only that, but its features have emerged as adaptations to life underwater (which I cover in my "biology" section of this description).

Here's a brief list of things Lugia shares with the Long/Ryuu: -wisdom (could potentially explain Lugia's psychic typing) -Master of the weather: rain, wind, waves- one of Lugia's default moves in catching it is Rain Dance, as a psychic type can also learn thunder/thunderbolt, plentiful water moves, and so on, as psychic type is shown to be able to control the weather (Metwo summons a storm to bring trainers to its island). It also has obvious power over wind and air (flying type) -benevolence (deeply empathetic creatures, but will turn on those who do wrong by them) -Lives isolated from civilizations, often in the ocean -Comes to the aid of humanity when they worship them, provide gifts or sacrifices (and even songs and dances), and request the dragon's help with prayers and deep respect (Lugia is summoned by a special song and ritual)

(History Lesson Over, sources and references down below)
Dragons, Qilin, Phoenix and other Mythical beasts. (this source has its sources all listed at the bottom of the page)
The Phoenix in Chinese Mythology
Dragons in Chinese Mythology
The Phoenix and the Dragon: Multicultural Meanings of Sol
Symbolism of the Mythical Phoenix Bird: Renewal, Rebirth and Destruction

Now for the biological reasons I have to support Lugia as a dragon:

All its body resembles animal limb and bone fusion to adapt to swimming, hence the torpedo shaped body, fin-like wings, lack of nails/claws (ex: Whales, Dolphins) and even the fin-like crest. I didn't draw the crest as a part of the skeleton as an assumption of it being cartilaginous. Many I made sure to give the beast a giant keel since most flying vertebrates have extensively developed keels to attach massive pectorals for flight -and swimming in this case. It has flat, flipper-like feet (but I chose to keep in reduced claws in these illustration compared to the game designs) instead of grasping claws. The wings alone and Lugia forcing itself to live in the ocean makes me speculate that Lugia might have looked DIFFERENT than it does now, especially with all the swimming adaptations. Perhaps it spent some time on land and in the sea, and swimming adaptations were increased over time when people came along and it had to be exclusively oceanic.

Based on Sugimori's design alone, the key points I found that set Lugia apart as less avian are these:

-It has a long, featherless BONY reptilian tail that comes to a point. Modern birds only have a tiny pygostyle supporting all the tail feathers. The two fin-like projections at the end of the tail look very much like fins and help

-is a "hand-flyer" (versus birds which are technically "arm-flyers", i.e. their flight power comes from feathers attaching directly to their arms, rather than the skin coming between the fingers like with bats). It appears that they aren't simply wings, but HANDS. The original Crystal version animations even show the FINGERS moving individually! The giant hands thing is also why Yveltal is one of my other favorite mons and legendaries. It puzzles me how such a weird design can cause such devastating damage (as stated in the games) by flapping, but the scoop-like shape that aids it in swimming could potentially collect huge pockets of air, and being a psychic/flying that already has extra power over the weather and wind, sends devastating winds out.

-doesn't appear completely covered in feathers (although some can argue that it does, dragons can have feathers, scales, and hair in this game, and not all dragons in this game are dragon type). For this reason and since there is the item "silver wing" being feather-like, I imagined that feather-like barbs could be used to interlock the scales and hold more warmth than plain scales, especially useful in the freezing temperatures of the deep

-Has a toothy mouth (Skarmory does too but has more bird characteristics than Lugia). I drew its teeth much like a homodont dentition lizard's, where they are tiny and sharp to mostly hold prey and push it back in the throat. However, given its large fangs, beak-like mouth shape, and large, hard, decurved "outer teeth" (you can see them sticking out even when its mouth is closed in the original design), it can probably also rip and tear apart its prey. Its overall body type and dentition suggests Lugia is carnivorous, likely pescivorous (homodont sharp teeth are also seen in fish-eating carnivores, like sharks, pikes, gars, etc), but with its intelligence and power, probably can eat most other Pokémon around its habitat.

Based on the key comparisons in my Ornithology Class that distinguished modern birds from pseudo-birds and non-avian dinosaurs, I developed a handy checklist that applies pretty well and broadly to Pokémon and identifying if the Pokémon is a bird (B) or non-bird (NB):

-Long, bony tail (NB) vs feathery tail (B, short pygostyle) -Feathers (B) vs no feathers (NB)
-Beak and toothless (B) vs toothy mouth (NB) -Flies with its arm (B) vs Flies with its hands/has arms instead of wings (NB)
More B than NB =Bird More NB than B= Non-bird, NB=B means the creature is a pseudobird or bird-like but not a true bird, a very strange bird with less bird-like characteristics, or my scoring system just sucks

Examples: Yveltal, much like Lugia, is more draconic and wyvern-like with this categorization, and appears featherless, although a Pokédex entry describes its "feathers" glowing indicating it stealing life. I simply don't see feathers, and see instead a more leathery, smooth texture (based on anime and game depictions). It's a hand-flyer, has a long bony tail, but has a beak/is toothless. With "feathers" it's a pseudo-bird/creature with a lotta bird influence, but without feathers is primarily a non-bird. Skarmory, while having teeth for whatever reason, has all the other bird characteristics, and is simply a bird. Archen and Archeops have equal bird and non-bird reptilian characteristics, thus they are pseudobirds (which Archeopteryx is).

There are exceptions, of course, and this is in no way a standard "scoring" system, but it was fun to come up with while I was struggling on one of my finals and stuck on questions (but was full-force on BIRD categorizing and Lugia's dragon-hood XD).

TL;DR- Lugia seems to be heavily inspired by Ryujin and Long from Japanese and Chinese legends respectively, having many striking similarities to these mystical, intelligent dragons that have a lot to do with weather, rain, and the ocean. Because of many of the traits in the original Sugimori design and what is known to distinguish birds and non-birds, Lugia has more dragon-like traits than that of a traditional bird, and is thus drawn like a dragon by me.

I spent WAY too long on this description and hunting down and reading all these sources, but I think it was fun and I learned a bunch. Thanks, Lugia!

Art (c) Me, 2013
Lugia (c) Ken Sugimori, The Pokémon Company, GameFreak

Description
My favorite legendary and top 10 favorite Pokémon, I've been drawing this handsome beast since I was a wee lass. Through all these years, however, I have always seen Lugia as a dragon, not a bird. Now that I'm a biology graduate, I still hold onto that view and now have more knowledge of biology that help me argue this point.

First, let's look at the inspiration and symbolism of Ho-Oh and Lugia, because understanding how they are seen as an essential duo helps understand how each of them functions and what they symbolize. If you only want to hear my biology argument, scroll down to the "biological reasons" section. You can argue that this duo ISN'T specifically this duo of Fenghuang and Long, but after reading a bunch of these sources (AND remembering seeing the word "HoO" in a book talking about the Japanese/Chinese phoenix, completely separated from Pokémon), it's really hard for me to NOT see this correlation and the amount of similarities. As a basic summary of all the sources put together, Long and Fenghuang are the dragon and phoenix (respectively) seen inextricably linked together. Long represents yin, weather, water, power, nobility, wisdom, the emperor and man while Fenghuang represents yang, femininity, grace, healing, virtue, prosperity, hope, happiness, and the empress. When they are depicted together, they represent unity, harmony, peace, and balance and are often used in wedding ceremonies to provide the couple with a harmonious, long-lasting union. Long controls weather events (particularly rain and floods), are benevolent (unless people piss them off), and Fenghuang only appears in times of peace to bring prosperity. Japan's equivalent is "Ryuu", which share many of the same characteristics as the Long, from their wisdom, power, masculine energy, responsibility for weather events, benevolence (although there are a few more malicious dragons in Japan), honors those who pay it respect, symbolism of royalty and the emperor, and hide their true form, choosing to live in hidden places, notably the ocean (Ryujin has an oceanic palace) and bodies of water. Other Pokémon with more obvious inspiration of these historical dragons are the Dragonite line, Gyarados, Rayquaza
In many of these sources, Fenghuang isn't exactly the burning and rebirthing phoenix as seen in the Western Phoenix and isn't even necessarily linked to fire, but Ho-Oh definitely takes a plethora of inspiration from the Western Phoenix-iridescent feathers (Arabian), fiery death and rebirth (Greek, Egyptian, Turkish, Arabia), and of course fire. In all these phoenix depictions, they have brilliant feathers, usually with the color red and gold, and all represent hope, grace, and virtue. Here's Ho-Oh's name explained in this passage from page 4 of the"Multicultural Meanings of Sol" doc: "The Japanese phoenix bears a great deal of resemblance to that of the Chinese. It too, is considered a symbol of the merger of male and female, with Ho representing the male side and Oo representing the female side. This version of the bird, called the HoOo, was believed only to appear when a ruler of great virtue sat upon the throne, heralding in a period of peace and prosperity for the Japanese people." I have plenty more to say about the East Asian Fenghuang/HoO and the phoenix in general, so definitely check out the sources I have linked below to get some more insight into its symbols.

Enough with Ho-Oh, what about the argument of Lugia being related to the Chinese Long and Japan's Ryuu? It doesn't have the talons of an eagle, the scales of a carp, the eyes of a demon, deer horns, ox ears, and tiger paws (and "abdomen of a cockle"["Dragon in Chinese Mythology"] Okay?). However, Lugia does have several personality and ability traits of these dragons, and even three toes of the Japanese dragon (in the original Sugimori design).
An interesting line from a Masters in English, from the "Dragon in Chinese Mythology" link: "However, what may most characterize the dragon is its association with transformation. The dragon represents change and adaptability, and in fact can change its physical form." While Lugia isn't characterized by doing such (Chinese and Japanese dragons frequently turned into humans (and sometimes other creatures) it is shown to be quite adaptable. Lugia chose to live in the ocean because it didn't want to hurt people with its wings! Not only that, but its features have emerged as adaptations to life underwater (which I cover in my "biology" section of this description).

Here's a brief list of things Lugia shares with the Long/Ryuu: -wisdom (could potentially explain Lugia's psychic typing) -Master of the weather: rain, wind, waves- one of Lugia's default moves in catching it is Rain Dance, as a psychic type can also learn thunder/thunderbolt, plentiful water moves, and so on, as psychic type is shown to be able to control the weather (Metwo summons a storm to bring trainers to its island). It also has obvious power over wind and air (flying type) -benevolence (deeply empathetic creatures, but will turn on those who do wrong by them) -Lives isolated from civilizations, often in the ocean -Comes to the aid of humanity when they worship them, provide gifts or sacrifices (and even songs and dances), and request the dragon's help with prayers and deep respect (Lugia is summoned by a special song and ritual)

(History Lesson Over, sources and references down below)
Dragons, Qilin, Phoenix and other Mythical beasts. (this source has its sources all listed at the bottom of the page)
The Phoenix in Chinese Mythology
Dragons in Chinese Mythology
The Phoenix and the Dragon: Multicultural Meanings of Sol
Symbolism of the Mythical Phoenix Bird: Renewal, Rebirth and Destruction

Now for the biological reasons I have to support Lugia as a dragon:

All its body resembles animal limb and bone fusion to adapt to swimming, hence the torpedo shaped body, fin-like wings, lack of nails/claws (ex: Whales, Dolphins) and even the fin-like crest. I didn't draw the crest as a part of the skeleton as an assumption of it being cartilaginous. Many I made sure to give the beast a giant keel since most flying vertebrates have extensively developed keels to attach massive pectorals for flight -and swimming in this case. It has flat, flipper-like feet (but I chose to keep in reduced claws in these illustration compared to the game designs) instead of grasping claws. The wings alone and Lugia forcing itself to live in the ocean makes me speculate that Lugia might have looked DIFFERENT than it does now, especially with all the swimming adaptations. Perhaps it spent some time on land and in the sea, and swimming adaptations were increased over time when people came along and it had to be exclusively oceanic.

Based on Sugimori's design alone, the key points I found that set Lugia apart as less avian are these:

-It has a long, featherless BONY reptilian tail that comes to a point. Modern birds only have a tiny pygostyle supporting all the tail feathers. The two fin-like projections at the end of the tail look very much like fins and help

-is a "hand-flyer" (versus birds which are technically "arm-flyers", i.e. their flight power comes from feathers attaching directly to their arms, rather than the skin coming between the fingers like with bats). It appears that they aren't simply wings, but HANDS. The original Crystal version animations even show the FINGERS moving individually! The giant hands thing is also why Yveltal is one of my other favorite mons and legendaries. It puzzles me how such a weird design can cause such devastating damage (as stated in the games) by flapping, but the scoop-like shape that aids it in swimming could potentially collect huge pockets of air, and being a psychic/flying that already has extra power over the weather and wind, sends devastating winds out.

-doesn't appear completely covered in feathers (although some can argue that it does, dragons can have feathers, scales, and hair in this game, and not all dragons in this game are dragon type). For this reason and since there is the item "silver wing" being feather-like, I imagined that feather-like barbs could be used to interlock the scales and hold more warmth than plain scales, especially useful in the freezing temperatures of the deep

-Has a toothy mouth (Skarmory does too but has more bird characteristics than Lugia). I drew its teeth much like a homodont dentition lizard's, where they are tiny and sharp to mostly hold prey and push it back in the throat. However, given its large fangs, beak-like mouth shape, and large, hard, decurved "outer teeth" (you can see them sticking out even when its mouth is closed in the original design), it can probably also rip and tear apart its prey. Its overall body type and dentition suggests Lugia is carnivorous, likely pescivorous (homodont sharp teeth are also seen in fish-eating carnivores, like sharks, pikes, gars, etc), but with its intelligence and power, probably can eat most other Pokémon around its habitat.

Based on the key comparisons in my Ornithology Class that distinguished modern birds from pseudo-birds and non-avian dinosaurs, I developed a handy checklist that applies pretty well and broadly to Pokémon and identifying if the Pokémon is a bird (B) or non-bird (NB):

-Long, bony tail (NB) vs feathery tail (B, short pygostyle) -Feathers (B) vs no feathers (NB)
-Beak and toothless (B) vs toothy mouth (NB) -Flies with its arm (B) vs Flies with its hands/has arms instead of wings (NB)
More B than NB =Bird More NB than B= Non-bird, NB=B means the creature is a pseudobird or bird-like but not a true bird, a very strange bird with less bird-like characteristics, or my scoring system just sucks

Examples: Yveltal, much like Lugia, is more draconic and wyvern-like with this categorization, and appears featherless, although a Pokédex entry describes its "feathers" glowing indicating it stealing life. I simply don't see feathers, and see instead a more leathery, smooth texture (based on anime and game depictions). It's a hand-flyer, has a long bony tail, but has a beak/is toothless. With "feathers" it's a pseudo-bird/creature with a lotta bird influence, but without feathers is primarily a non-bird. Skarmory, while having teeth for whatever reason, has all the other bird characteristics, and is simply a bird. Archen and Archeops have equal bird and non-bird reptilian characteristics, thus they are pseudobirds (which Archeopteryx is).

There are exceptions, of course, and this is in no way a standard "scoring" system, but it was fun to come up with while I was struggling on one of my finals and stuck on questions (but was full-force on BIRD categorizing and Lugia's dragon-hood XD).

TL;DR- Lugia seems to be heavily inspired by Ryujin and Long from Japanese and Chinese legends respectively, having many striking similarities to these mystical, intelligent dragons that have a lot to do with weather, rain, and the ocean. Because of many of the traits in the original Sugimori design and what is known to distinguish birds and non-birds, Lugia has more dragon-like traits than that of a traditional bird, and is thus drawn like a dragon by me.

I spent WAY too long on this description and hunting down and reading all these sources, but I think it was fun and I learned a bunch. Thanks, Lugia!

Art (c) Me, 2013
Lugia (c) Ken Sugimori, The Pokémon Company, GameFreak