Meet The Quetzalcoatlus, The Giraffe-Sized Pterosaur That Was The Largest Flying Dinosaur To Ever Live

While Quetzalcoatlus was not a dinosaur per se, Quetzalcoatlus‘ existence alongside them has fascinated Kevin Padian for years. A co-author of one of the five papers and a paleontologist at the University of California, Berkeley, he believes this research sheds new light on pterosaurs — the first animals after insects to evolve flight.

“This ancient flying reptile is legendary, although most of the public conception of the animal is artistic, not scientific,” he said. “This is the first real look at the entirety of the largest animal ever to fly, as far as we know. The results are revolutionary for the study of pterosaurs.”

How Quetzalcoatlus Managed To Get Off The Ground Despite Its Enormous Size
The newly-released monograph covers a wide array of topics. These included the animal’s initial discovery and known distribution, their prehistoric habitat, physical characteristics, and taxonomy, as well as an updated evolutionary family tree and analysis of their morphology.