Page 22 - DINOSOUR ATLAS

dinosaur atlas
Flying Reptiles

The biggesT flying animals that have ever existed patrolled the
skies during the age of the dinosaurs. They were the pterosaurs—
lightweight flying reptiles that were related to the dinosaurs.
The smallest were the size of sparrows, but the largest were the
size of light planes. They had hollow bones like birds, and long,
typically toothed beaks. Their wings were membranes of elastic
skin, rather like those of a bat, but unlike a bat’s wings each
was supported by a single, elongated fourth finger bone,
and hundreds of tough, reinforcing fibers.

FoUr long bones of the fourth
finger supported the stretchy skin
of the pterosaur’s outer wing

d pteranodon
One of the biggest pterosaurs, Pteranodon
ingens had an elongated crest and a long,
toothless beak that made its head longer
than its body. It had a beak pouch like
u pterodaustro that of a pelican, and probably fed on fish.
The pterosaurs that lived in the Cretaceous
Period had short tails and long wrist bones.
The jaws of Pterodaustro were fringed with
bristlelike teeth, which it probably used
to strain plankton from seawater.

UnUsUally long toes
of this Late Cretaceous
pterosaur were likely to
have been webbed

a groUnded pterosaUr
may have held its elbows
up, as here, or it could have
walked with straighter arms

u Feet and hands u walking on wings u agile and lightweight
Although specialized for flight, pterosaurs A pterosaur could have used its wings as front Being lightly built, a pterosaur could have been
had quite strong back legs. They also had well- legs by folding their outer sections upward. very agile on the ground, and small pterosaurs
developed “hands” at the angle of each wing. It could then have walked on all fours. would have been able to take off easily.
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