It weighed about 155 pounds and had a 34-foot wingspan, close to the size of an F-16 fighter jet. A five-foot-long skull looked down from a standing height similar to that of a modern giraffe.
By all measures, the ancient pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus was a super-sized giant of the air and created a frightening shadow as it soared across the sky.
It pushed the very boundaries of size to the brink and is considered the largest flying animal yet to be discovered. Any larger, and it would have had to walk.
But its bulk caused researchers to wonder how such a heavy animal with relatively flimsy wings became airborne.
Sankar Chatterjee, professor at the Museum of Texas Tech University, will describe the flight dynamics of this animal during the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.
Using a computer simulation, Chatterjee and his colleagues unravled the secrets of the flight for the massive pterosaur, "This animal probably flew like an albatross in that it could soar and glide very well," Chatterjee said.
"It spent most of its time in the air. But when it comes to take off and landing, they're so awkward that they had to run. If it were taking off from a cliff, then it was OK. But if Quetzalcoatlus were on the ground, it probably had to find a sloping area like a river bank, and then run quickly on four feet, then two to pick up enough power to get into the air. It needed an area to taxi."
It pushed the very boundaries of size to the brink and is considered the largest flying animal yet to be discovered. Any larger, and it would have had to walk.
But its bulk caused researchers to wonder how such a heavy animal with relatively flimsy wings became airborne.
Using a computer simulation, Chatterjee and his colleagues unravled the secrets of the flight for the massive pterosaur, "This animal probably flew like an albatross in that it could soar and glide very well," Chatterjee said.
"It spent most of its time in the air. But when it comes to take off and landing, they're so awkward that they had to run. If it were taking off from a cliff, then it was OK. But if Quetzalcoatlus were on the ground, it probably had to find a sloping area like a river bank, and then run quickly on four feet, then two to pick up enough power to get into the air. It needed an area to taxi."
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