Quetzalcoatlus and the giant pterosaurs
Animals the height of a giraffe, with ten-metre wingspans, fly — and stalk prey on the ground.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 4 million years
- Known to
- ± 2 million years
- Era
- Cretaceous, Mesozoic
The last pterosaurs are also the largest flying animals that ever lived. Azhdarchids such as Quetzalcoatlus and Hatzegopteryx reach wingspans of ten metres or more on bodies lightened by air-filled bones. Their proportions — long stiff necks, huge beaks, limbs built for walking — suggest they foraged on foot like enormous storks rather than skimming the sea, and launched using all four limbs. Smaller pterosaurs have largely disappeared by this point, likely squeezed out by birds, leaving only the giants.