Today’s #megafauna is the #cryodrakon! This large #pterosaur lived in Alberta, Canada between 74 and 77 million years ago. At the time, the land supported a temperate forest that would have provided the cryodrakon with plenty of mammals, lizards, and baby dinosaurs to snack on. Like #quetzelcoatlus, cryodrakon was a member of azhdarchidae: a family of late #cretaceous pterosaurs characterized by long legs and necks. Most members of this family are very large, and cryodrakon had a wingspan of 33 feet.

For a long time, cryodrakon fossils were confused for quetzelcoatlus fossils. This was exacerbated by the delayed publication of a full description of quetzelcoatlus. However, the discovery of several European azhdarchidae species allowed for additional differentiation. When the original quetzelcoatlus bones became available to view, it became clear that cryodrakon was species distinct from its Southern cousin. In fact, crydrakon was apparently more robust than quetzelcoatlus, making it perhaps the largest pterosaur ever.

On this second day of #MegafaunaMay, our daily #megafauna is quetzelcoatlus. Named after the feathered serpent god of the Aztec religion, this gigantic #pterosaur lived during the late Cretaceous period in modern-day North America.

With a maximum weight over 500lbs and a wingspan over 30 feet wide, #quetzelcoatlus has inspired controversy over its flight capabilities. For some, its massive size sheds doubt on the idea that it ever flew, but aerodynamic models suggest that it was, in fact, the largest flying animal known to have existed. The towering pterosaur was originally thought to have flown like modern condors by soaring on thermal updrafts in the air. However, more recent research suggests that it instead has more in common with the kori bustard, using its strong wing muscles to complete short, low flights.

Even short flights are impressive from such a heavy animal, and the wings had to be very wide in order to allow them. In fact, quetzelcoatlus’s wingspan is so long that its folded wings touched the ground when it stood on its 6-foot tall legs. This gave the pterosaur a unique approach to walking: each wing had to be moved out of the way of its corresponding foot with each step it too.

Like other #pterosaurs, this species had hollow bones, so its fragile remains are rarer finds than those of contemporary dinosaurs such as the T-Rex. Skulls have given us many hints about quetzelcoatlus’s lifestyle: its large eye sockets suggest that had excellent eyesight; its beak suggests a diet of creatures skimmed out of the lakes near where its fossils have been found; and a bony crest on top of its head could potentially have been used for attracting mates or controlling flight. Although we do not have a complete skeleton of quetzelcoatlus, reconstructions and comparisons to modern species have allowed us to fill in the gaps.