Jesus Fucking Christ, let me first apologize for the mentally challenged shit I’m about throw down.
Why are the stories of dragons so close to the descriptions of some dinosaurs when the stories of dragons predate both the discovery of dinosaurs and the widespread knowledge of large reptiles? Tales of dragons go back thousands of years in what is now Europe and back to 1600 BCE in Asia, but if you look at art and stories, a healthy percentage of them bare an uncanny likeness to what would be discovered only in the last couple hundred years. Now I'm fully aware the comparative dinosaurs died out tens of millions of years ago and that dragons aren't real -- I’m clearly a moron, but not a wildly insane moron. So what gives? Why are these stories so close when they should have no logical point of reference?
There are some good thoughts in the various comments here. One must keep in mind that over the millions of years and extensive geography that represents the period when dinosaurs existed, one could find a dinosaur that resembled just about anything. That, I believe, is the first problem with the dots that you imagine to be so close that connecting them seems irresistible.
There is some discussion in the content below about the fact that most pre-Christian European dragons were regarded as more like serpents. There is no question that the European dragon was thought of as reptilian in some way, and this can be a fundamental reason why they would seem like dinosaurs (or more like the way dinosaurs were once depicted).
The Chinese dragon has more wolf-like attributes - with stereoscopic vision, although it also has reptilian features. And in the case of dragons that fly - they don't look at all like pterosaurs, so that seems like a dead end - doesn't it?
Your question is a good one, and I understand that you're not attempting to use this as a foundation for some exotic conclusion, but I think we are dealing with the coincidence of limited possibilities - on the side of how to imagine a dragon - and of extensive possibilities with the incredible diversity of dinosaurs over tens of millions of years.
hi! not a crazy question - in fact, there have been lots of questions about dragons here. not discouraging anyone from giving a direct response to your specific question, but you can catch up with some of the previous discussions in this section of the FAQ*
*see the link on the sidebar or the wiki tab
Just to clarify - why do you say "stories of dragons"? Which stories, specifically? For example, in Slavic folklore, the word dragon is not used, instead, you have змей - which means snake.
Also, I think in English folklore, the word Wyrm is used, and this is just an old spelling for worm (note that worm in Old English meant snake).
Also, I've read Slavic folklore tales as a child, and as far as I remember, there were no actual physical descriptions of them in those tales.