The papers were published together as a 'memoir' in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The results are revolutionary for the study of pterosaurs - the first animals, after insects, ever to evolve powered flight.' 'This is the first real look at the entirety of the largest animal ever to fly, as far as we know. The co-editor of a series of recently published papers on the animals, Professor Kevin Padian, says, 'These ancient flying reptiles are legendary, although most of the public conception of the animal is artistic, not scientific. Together, these pterosaurs would have fed on a range of fish and small aquatic prey. The scientists also described a smaller relative, Quetzalcoatlus lawsoni, for the first time, which would have had a shorter wingspan, at around the length of a car. Researchers have found that its 11-metre-long wings meant it would have had to jump up to 2.5 metres into the air, followed by powerful flaps to pull it into the sky. With the wingspan of a small aeroplane, Quetzalcoatlus northropi was a pterosaur living in the wetlands of what is now Texas, USA over 67 million years ago. This work will serve as the standard go-to study of this group for years – probably decades – to come.Some of the secrets of the largest animal to have ever taken to the air have been revealed, acting like a heron on the ground and a condor in the skies. “Never before has so much detailed information on azhdarchids (the pterosaur family that includes Quetzalcoatlus) been gathered in the same place. “To say that this work is long awaited is something of an understatement,” he says. It seems a cumbersome process to us, but the animal could execute the gait quickly and easily.”ĭarren Naish, a pterosaur expert who was not involved with the research, says that this set of papers is a milestone for understanding this species. “The process was repeated with the right limb: the right arm lifted, the right leg advanced and emplaced the right foot, and then the right hand descended. “The animal first raised its left arm, then advanced its left leg in a full step, then it placed the hand on the ground,” Padian explains. It walked on two legs, but even when folded up, its wings still touched the ground. The studies also examined how the pterosaur was able to walk with such huge wings. Instead, its long toothless jaw was likely used to sift crabs, worms and clams from the mud at the bottoms of lakes and rivers.īased on how the pterosaur could move its head, neck and jaw, the researchers also think it may have been able to spot prey from the air and swoop down to catch it. “And if you look at a heron or egret’s jaws, they’re the same - good for plucking lizards and other small game, but definitely not carcass-scavenging. “The jaws are very long and thin, tapering to a point,” Padian says. The research team found that Quetzalcoatlus was somewhat similar to today’s egrets and herons in how it fed, wading and stalking through rivers and streams. The more complete skeletons of the smaller species allowed the team to apply findings to their larger cousin. The studies looked at the fossilised wing bones of the huge Quetzalcoatlus northropi, found in the late 1970s from Big Bend National Park in Texas, and compared them with dozens of specimens of a smaller Quetzalcoatlus species, about half the size of Q. When walking, the animal had a unique gait unlike any other, and distinctly different from that of the vampire bat. A sketch of the bones of Quetzalcoatlus northropi.
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