I think it’s because the vast
MAJORity died off 65 million years ago. But pockets of survivors held on even into relatively recent time frames where men were fighting dragons.
Yes...but how did the recent “dragons” get fossilized in rock which are thought to be millions of years old? Maybe the rock wasn’t formed that long ago? Big conundrum. Some ways to explain it could that the rock dating technique has flaws...or biomolecules are preserved by unknown chemical means. Some suggest that the molecules found are microorganisms derived, which contaminated the fossil...
The textbooks may have to be rewritten again...
Freegards.
That’s why every civilization has had a version of a ‘dragon’ in their mythology.....................