abbyhoward
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Extinct Creatures-- Quetzalcoatlus
🕑 Added 2016-09-26 18:22:58 +0000 UTC Okay so this week, to make up for my many weeks away, I'll be posting extinct creatures daily! And all of them will be pterosaurs because I haven't done any yet and they are my absolute favorite things and sometimes I cry when I think about them.So pterosaurs. They are not dinosaurs, though they share a common ancestor with dinosaurs, so they're pretty close. They're warm blooded, quadrupedal, and have a coat of what looks like hair but is actually something called pycnofibers, a structure that is unique to pterosaurs. They are one of the three groups of vertebrates that have obtained true flight-- birds and bats being the other two. I will probably post a little comparison between their three wing structures later this week, because it is super fascinating to see how different groups approach the issue of getting off the ground! Pterosaurs have big flexible flaps of skin supported by weird little fibers called actinofibrils, and the flaps extend from the end of their long long finger to their legs. Birds are well known for having hollow, lightweight bones, but the bones of pterosaurs were even more so, which helped them obtain flight even at the incredible size of something like Quetzalcoatlus.
Quetzalcoatlus is actually probably not the best pterosaur to start with, because it is really weird and gigantic and definitely not your typical pterosaur, but I love it to bits so I wanted to draw it first! Plus, it's a great pterosaur to help other people fall in love with pterosaurs, because look at it, loOK AT IT. GIRAFFE THAT FLIES
It lived in the southern region of what is now North America during the late Cretaceous. It hunted creatures on land, which was quite different from the piscivorous diet most pterosaurs had enjoyed since they fist evolved. It is one of the largest creatures that ever flew, though its fellow azhdarchids (a family of pterosaurs) were also pretty big! Hatzegopteryx, for instance, was dang big, though not quite as dang big as our large friend Quetzalcoatlus.
If you also like pterosaurs, the guy to go to for really up-to-date and reliable info is Mark Witton! He wrote and illustrated Pterosaurs, which is a very very good book. If you want to learn all about how amazing and beautiful pterosaurs were I definitely recommend it.
Can't wait to show you more amazing pterosaurs,
-Abby
Comments
Abby Howard
That exhibit sounds amazing! I would cry if I saw a life-size Quetzalcoatlus model, haha. But good tears. And being able to pilot a pterosaur, what a fun time!!
Joel Murray
pterosaurs are the best! i have a wee pterosaur tattoo on my right forearm. and i went to the LA natural history museum pterosaur exhibit last month and THEY HAD A LIFE-SIZED MODEL OF QUETZALCOATLUS and a bunch of other pterosaurs and neat VR stuff where you could stand in front of a screen and flap your arms and lean and control a pterosaur and it was amazing. looking fwd to the rest of this week's posts :D
