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Quetzalcoatlus
This nOde last updated November 13th, 2001 and is permanently morphing...
(4 Kan (Corn) - 2 Ceh (Red) - 12.19.8.13.4)

68 Million BCE
50 Feet
190 Pounds

Until recently, the giant-winged Pteranodon was thought to have been the largest of the flying reptiles known as "pterosaurs." But in1972 the remains of an even more enormous pterosaur was
discovered in Big Bend National Park, in Texas.

Quetzalcoatlus, or "feathered serpent" -- named after an Aztec god -- would have been the largest and heaviest flying reptile by far. The fossilized remains indicate that this giant pterosaur would have weighed nearly 190 pounds and had a wingspan of close to 50 feet, almost the same size as a small airplane!

Quetzalcoatlus probably lived far inland, away from water. Like other pterosaurs, Quetzalcoatlus' wings were made of skin stretched along the lengths of greatly elongated fourth fingers of each claw. Its neck was probably longer than the earlier Rhamphorhynchus, and its head was probably more elongated.

Scientists think Quetzalcoatlus had excellent vision and behaved like a modern vulture, spotting its prey from afar, then attacking or feeding on the carcasses of decaying dinosaurs.

LOCALITY: Texas, California, USA
SUPERORDER: Archosauria
ORDER: Pterosauria
SUBORDER: Pterodactyloidea
FAMILY: Ornithocheiridae

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