If dragons on earth may be based on the
Komodo, dragons in Yliakum may have their base animals too for the adventurers who get easily afraid of the unknown and the bards who exaggerate their tales more and more each time they are told, so that not even the encyclopedia in Jayose's library will reveal that it was just e.g. an Ogoro.
Maybe the base lies even in tales told from the home worlds.