Crowdfunding: Connecting Creators and Patrons

Everything wears out. Many lifeforms die near the time their reproductive capacity ends. But the more complex the lifeform, the wider that margin tends to be because there is value in elders if they can perform other duties. Since I'm imagining these dragons as sentient, but pretty violent, they clutch like dumb lizards but have a high mortality rate. Elder dragons tend to be wise and powerful, which helps them survived even past breeding age.

It varies though.