What If the Pterodactyl Was Still Alive?

when was the last time a bird pooped on you well apparently you have a better chance of winning the lottery than you do of getting pooped on by a bird which is why some cultures consider this unexpected unpleasant occurrence to be good left but there's nothing lucky about this look at the sky it's not a bird or a plane it's a pterodactyl they never went extinct and you have to deal with them but how if pterodactyls never went extinct would we consider them to be food friends or a new way to get around this is what if and here's what would happen if pterodactyls were still alive first things first pterodactyls are properly referred to as pterosaurs but they're not technically dinosaurs pterosaurs are giant winged reptiles and there are several different species of them in all sorts of shapes and sizes of course no human has ever seen a pterosaurs since they went extinct about 66 million years ago which is way before humans showed up but from old bones and fossilized remains we can get an idea of what it might have been like to live alongside these giant flying things or do we even want to know pterosaurs how big were they and what would we do with them because you know that humans can't just leave an exotic creature to do whatever it wants on its own what do we keep them as pets or farm them for meat or would we leave our bikes and cars in the garage and simply fly to work it's not as easy as that some pterosaurs like Quetzalcoatlus northrop i could be as tall as giraffes with wings that stretched 11 meters wide but you might be able to keep this little guy in your home nemi kilometer as cryptic us was one of the smallest pterosaurs with a wingspan less than 25 centimeters that's probably how it got its name which means hidden flying forest dweller but if keeping pterosaurs as pets is either too dangerous for you or simply too impractical why don't we find out how they taste well I hope you don't have a big appetite because despite their size pterosaurs don't offer much meat aside from their huge wingspan their legs arms and torsos are tiny so it would definitely not be worth the cost and effort of raising a pterosaur for food maybe we could ride them once a theme-park ride is now a reality you could ride the pterosaur if they were still alive today but the flight wouldn't be as majestic as you might imagine first of all they wouldn't be able to carry just anyone with the largest pterosaurs weighing an estimated 180 to 250 kilograms they could probably only comfortably lift and carry smaller people but I don't know would you let your kid on one of these things once airborne you wouldn't be flying for very long until it would be time to touch down again like modern birds and bats pterosaurs would cover long distances by soaring rather than constantly flapping their wings after taking off they would flap their wings to gain altitude and upon reaching a sufficient height they simply glide until they needed to get higher or felt like landing for a rest but with your extra weight on their back they probably wouldn't be able to glide for very long not to mention that it probably wouldn't be a very comfortable ride because it would be incredibly cold and hard to breathe at the higher altitudes so maybe it's for the best that we never lived with pterosaurs they probably weren't as menacing as the movies make them out to be but I don't think anyone would want to be showered with their good luck either now if you think that's worrying can you imagine how scary it would be if dinosaurs never went extinct well that's a story for another what-if

Channel: What If

Views: 487,142

Rating: 4.8719802 out of 5

Keywords: what if, what happens if, scifi, science documentary, what if scenario, what if animals, extinct animals, pterodactyl, dinosaur, jurassic world, prehistoric animals, pterosaurus, pterodactyl sound, flying dinosaurus, history documentary, the extinction of dinosaurs, paleontology, Quetzalcoatlus, dinosaurs, jurassic park, jurassic world evolution, extinction, raptor, animals, natural history, pterosaurs, raptors, return to jurassic park, flying reptiles, dinosaurs bbc

Id: 6bVQPbXC6Vs

Length: 4min 41sec (281 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 09 2020