Pterodactyls
cwilcox | April 30, 2009
One of the coolest dinosaurs you learn about as a kid are Pterodactyls (really Pterosaurs, but who's checking). As giant flying lizards, these guys are thought to have dominated the skies long before birds existed (from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous, 220-65 million years ago). The biggest of the bunch are Pteranodon and Quetzalcoatlus, which are thought to have weighed as much as 250 kg with wingspans in excess of 30 feet.
But a new study, published in PLoS ONE is casting doubt on the ability of these massive winged dinos to actually fly. Instead, their results add to others…