As the title says, this is not a dino, so why are we including Pteranodon in our dinosaur series? Here’s a list:
- Pterosaurs (to which Pteranodon belongs) are closely related to dinosaurs
- A lot of people know it and think it is a dinosaur
- We want people to know that it is in fact, not a dinosaur
- It’s really cool 😀
Pteranodon was a pterosaur (a group of flying reptiles related to dinosaurs) that lived in the Late Cretaceous of North America, during the time of T-rex, Triceratops, and other large and extremely dangerous animals. Pteranodon was one of the last pterosaurs to live, but one of the most famous and well-known, with over 1,000 specimens. This is more than any other pterosaur!
Pteranodon had no teeth, hence its name “toothless wing”, and had a very short tail, both of which were very strange compared to European pterosaurs discovered before Pteranodon. It was the first pterosaur to be found outside of Europe. Pteranodon ate fish and a lot of fish have been discovered among fossils.
Pteranodon’s crests have been the subject of heavy debate by scientists for decades. It has been suggested that it was a rudder, an air brake, a counterbalance, or a way to gain heat (similar to stegosaur plates and spinosaur sails). However, the widely accepted hypothesis is that it was a mating display due to the variation between sexes and species.
Pteranodon was portrayed in Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World as one of the main antagonists, but as usual, they were larger than life, literally. Pteranodons were smaller than they were portrayed in the movies, and their beaks actually curved upward at the tip, and weren’t sharp spear-like skewers. Also, they were too weak and light to pick up a human (probably why one dropped said human)
Anay Ganesh 