Dragon Encyclopedia

The Dragon Encyclopedia was the April Fools' Day prank in 2014. TJ "dressed up" as  Ƨ ockPuppet Strangler (at first he had only changed his name, then later on he also changed his avatar to the one Sock uses) and made the following announcement on the news forums:

" Ƨ ockPuppet Strangler"

- Today, I'm excited to announce a new feature, one that's been in the works literally for years, that will help expand the world of Dragon Cave to a whole new level—the Dragon Encyclopedia. AprilFools'Day-2014_1.png The Encyclopedia allows you to unlock “notes” about breeds—tidbits of information about their behavior, habitat, etc. These notes will appear as you raise or click on dragons (even clicks on adults are counted). The more you observe, the more you can find out! You can discover exciting context about the dragons you know and love, information that will enrich the overall Dragon Cave experience by fleshing out the world it exists in. No longer are you limited to only the four or five sentences provided in the breed description; now, you can learn things about your dragons that have never been revealed before. AprilFools'Day-2014_2.png The encyclopedia will be rolling out slowly; first to a small subset of users for testing (either through random selection or random drawing), then to the general public. Not all breeds will have information at first. Expect to hear more information Soon™.

There had been some speculation on the actuality of this release, as Soon™ popularly means "supposedly 'soon' but it's been said enough times for people to know better."

Among other 'easter eggs' hidden in the post is that the thread was actually posted on 12:59 AM on March 31st, 2014, implying that it's possible that it's actually going to be implemented.

As of Dragon Cave's birthday in 2014, TJ09 announced that the Dragon Encyclopedia would actually be released to everyone, following a beta period that some users are was experienced. Now, the Dragon Encyclopedia is accessible by everyone by the Account page. The new Encyclopedia has not only details of dragons, but the world, magic, and elements.

As you "observe" (Clicks) or raise dragons, you will get more info for your dragons. The info is sorted into: Appearance/Basic Anatomy, Hatchling Behavior, Adult Behavior, Habitat, Diet, and Elemental Type. To unlock all the sprites, one would need to:
 * Own 1 or observe 5 eggs to unlock the egg sprite.
 * Own 1 or observe 5 S1hatchlings to unlock the S1 hatchling sprite.
 * Own 2 or observe 10 S2 Hatchlings to unlock the S2 hatchling sprite.
 * Own 3 or obserbe 15 adults to unlock the adult sprites in the Encyclopedia.
 * It counts how many you already own/seen in the bottom (since the Encyclopedia was released). Any alts or variations of dragons require owing/observing the same type to unlock the sprite.