DinoFrontier
About Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus was one of the largest flying animals of all time, with a wingspan of around 10 to 11 metres, about the size of a small aeroplane. It was a pterosaur: a flying reptile closely related to dinosaurs, but not a dinosaur itself.
Standing on the ground on all fours with its wings folded, it was about as tall as a giraffe, with a long, stiff neck and a huge toothless beak. Its bones were hollow and thin-walled, keeping its weight to a few hundred kilograms despite its size.
Rather than skimming fish from the sea, Quetzalcoatlus probably hunted on foot like a giant stork, striding across open ground and snapping up small animals.
Quetzalcoatlus facts
- It probably took off by vaulting on its folded wings like a pole vaulter, launching itself into the air in a single leap.
- It may have been able to fly long distances by soaring on thermals, like modern albatrosses and vultures.
- Its fossils come from inland river deposits in Texas, hundreds of kilometres from the nearest Cretaceous coastline.
- Quetzalcoatlus lived alongside T. rex and Alamosaurus at the very end of the Cretaceous.
Discovery
Geology student Douglas Lawson found the first wing bones in Big Bend National Park, Texas, in 1971 and named the animal in 1975. A detailed description of all the known material was published in 2021.
