This episode is brought to you by Curiosity Stream Imagine an animal the size of a giraffe … that could fly. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Majestic? Maybe a little terrifying? Well, keep that image in mind, because over
66 million years ago, there was a giraffe-sized reptile/ that soared through the sky. Today, we’re familiar with two types of
flying vertebrates -- birds and bats. But back in the Mesozoic Era, there was another kind of flying animal -- pterosaurs, cousins of dinosaurs who flew on wings of leathery skin. They were actually the very first vertebrates
to take to the air. Pterosaurs came in lots of sizes, the smallest
being about the size of a brown bat. But the biggest was so huge that paleontologists
have been debating for decades about how such an enormous animal could actually fly. The modern story of this flying giant starts
in 1971, when geology student Douglas Lawson stumbled across the fossil bones of an enormous
creature in Big Bend National Park, in Texas. Those remains turned out to be part of a pterosaur’s
wing -- 68 million years old and far larger than any that had been found before. Lawson named the giant flyer Quetzalcoatlus
after the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, a flying feathered serpent. I’m sure the pterosaur would have been flattered
by the comparison. Other fossils have turned up in Texas and
Montana, but, so far, experts are still hoping for that perfect skeleton that will show us
the animal’s full size. At first, some studies put its wingspan at
just under 16 meters across, but research since then has shrunk it down to about 11
meters. Which is, still, not too shabby! That’s about the same wingspan as a Cessna
172 airplane, and over three times larger than a wandering albatross -- the bird with
the largest wingspan today. And when Quetzalcoatlus stood on the ground,
it would’ve been about 5 meters tall, as big as a giraffe. Now, it might seem absurd to think of something
that big flying through the air. In fact, some paleontologists have doubted
that it flew at all. Instead, they say it might have shuffled on
the ground with its wings folded up. But recent research suggests that Quetzalcoatlus
could fly -- and do so under its own power. For animals, there are basically two ways
to get into the air. The easiest is gliding. Find a high place and just… jump! Flying squirrels, lizards, and even some snakes
can do this. But there’s no indication that Quetzalcoatlus
lived around lots of tall, convenient cliffs that it could jump from. And it’s hard to imagine it climbing a smaller,
rocky outcrop to try to launch. So, even though it seems to push the limits
of biomechanics, Quetzalcoatlus was probably capable of true powered flight. Unlike gliding, powered flight requires the
active flapping of wings to stay in the air, like a bird or a bat does. The question, then, is: How did Quetzalcoatlus
-- and other large pterosaurs -- get airborne? At first, it was thought that these animals
were just like really big albatrosses, and they had to run and flap their wings until
they took off. But recent studies have suggested a totally
different, and unexpected, solution. Maybe Quetzalcoatlus used what experts call
the quad-launch. Picture a pterosaur in a four-point stance
-- standing on its feet and leaning on its folded wings. To get going, it would rock back into a crouch
and then spring forward, using its wings to vault into the air. From there, the pterosaur could throw its
wings open and flap away. Experts say this kind of launch may have been
possible, because even though Quetzalcoatlus was huge, it was extremely light. That’s because its bones were very thin
and full of air pockets. So, full-grown, it may have weighed between
200 and 250 kilograms -- about a quarter of what a giraffe weighs. And some experts think that -- in addition
to being the biggest thing that ever flew -- Quetzalcoatlus could’ve gone on some
pretty epic flights. Based on estimates of its mass, how much it
had to eat, and how often it needed to stop, one study figured that Quetzalcoatlus could
have soared at nearly 130 kilometers an hour, risen to heights of four and a half kilometers,
and stayed aloft for a week at a time! If true, this would mean it had a global flight
range greater than 13,000 kilometers -- enough to fly across entire oceans! Of course, this is only what’s possible. But there’s still a lot we have yet to learn
about the world’s largest flying creatures. Paleontologists are on the lookout for more
fossils that will help pin down how far these animals journeyed. But it’s still tantalizing to imagine. Quetzalcoatlus could have been one of the
Earth’s first world travelers. Today’s episode was brought to you by Curiosity
Stream, where you can stream documentary films, and programs about science, nature, and history,
including exclusive originals! For example, check out Deep Time History,
a fun, three-part exploration of how key events in the distant past shaped human history. Curiosity Stream offers unlimited streaming,
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and use the promo code EONS. Now, what do you want to know about the story
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Thank you for this I have been watching videos for about half an hour now from this channel and can't wait for my nephew to come home from school so I can show him these. He is going to love them so much
I like that launch theory. It would be amazing to see a massive gangly creature just...spring into flight.
I find it odd that Hatzegopteryx and Arambourgiania are not even mentioned at all.
Actually, THIS is the biggest thing that ever flew.
;)
What about the Hindenburg, that was pretty big