Quetzalcoatlus (meaning “feathered serpent god lizard”) was a genus of giant pterosaur, possessing an 13-15 meter (43-50 foot) wingspan and weighing 250 kg. It was the largest pterosaur of all Earth's history and thus the largest known flying vertebrate on Earth.
Quetzalcoatlus lived 75-65 million years ago in North America, making it one of the last pterosaur species to exist as well. It was long thought Quetzalcoatlus probably fed on carrion as well as hunting cephalopods, fish, and crustaceans in the shallow seas of the Late Cretaceous North America. But new research by Mark Witton and Darren Naish revealed that they were actually giraffe-shaped, stork-like creatures, terrestrial stalkers that fed on small animals they picked up off the ground. It has been suggested at least once that it is actually non-diagnostic, and is in fact a nomen dubium instead.
In the series
Walking with Dinosaurs
Death of a Dynasty In the last episode of Walking with Dinosaurs, a Quetzalcoatlus is shown taking a drink while being stalked by a Deinosuchus; still, its primary role was to be the token pterosaur of that episode, for which the narrator explained that the skies of the future would belong to the birds.
Walking with Dinosaurs: The Movie
Quetzalcoatlus appeared in the film, in the backround of many scenes. A flock lf them are seen fleeing from a forest fire. In a later scene, Gorgon the Gorgosaurus catches one by the foot and kills it before the rest of his pack start feeding. When two baby Pachyrhinosaurus named Patchi and Juniper are on the beach, a pair of Quetzalcoatlus come close to them and eat the nearby crabs, spooking the young dinosaurs. Years later when Patchi is an adult and pinned down by a tree after losing in a fight with Scowler, a pack of Troodons followed by two Quetzalcoatlus appear to eat the Pachyrhinosaurus. While the savengers fight, Patchi gets back up and scares away the predators.
Walking with Dinosaurs: Inside Their World
Quetzalcoatlus is one of the viewable pterosaurs in the app.
Wonderbook: Walking with Dinosaurs
It was featured in concept art for Wonderbook: Walking with Dinosaurs but ultimately didn't make the final cut.
Errors
Walking with Dinosaurs
- The Quetzalcoatlus' model in Walking with Dinosaurs has teeth. It lacked teeth in reality.
- It also has a much shorter neck than in reality and a shorter, skinnier beak.
- This animal walked more upright on the ground and instead of a small notch-like crest in the back of the head, had a large flat crest.
- Despite the show saying that it was the last pterosaur, azhdarchids flourished at that time (maybe replacing non-avian paravians), and other pterosaur groups may have been around as well.
- It lacks pycnofibers that all pterosaurs had.
Walking with Dinosaurs: The Movie
- The head is too small. In reality, they were much larger than even the torso. The producers changed this for fear of looking ridiculous.
- Neck is somewhat too short.
- Oddly, it isn't native to Alaska only in the western united states, and its possible that it is actually Cryodrakon.
In other media
March of the Dinosaurs
Read more at the March of the Dinosaurs Wiki
Trivia
- Quetzalcoatlus model in Walking with Dinosaurs is an edit of that of Ornithocheirus. The model lacks the dual crests on the beak and has a thinner neck than the Ornithocheirus model, but everything else was the same.
- Because it is an edit of Ornithocheirus, the Quetzalcoatlus model is drastically inaccurate.
- On the new WWD site, Quetzalcoatlus is identified as an unnamed Azhdarchid.
- This is the only creature to appear in both the WWD 3D movie and the TV series.
Gallery
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