Thursday, April 13, 2006

They grow 'em big in Texas

Mark Witton's commentary


They grow 'em big in Texas
Originally uploaded by Mark Witton.
One thing not really coveyed in most pictures of Quetzalcaotlus is just how big the damn thing is, so I've mocked up this diagram just to make the point. The manly silouhette in this picture is meant to be of average height for a male human (about 1.85 m or so), demonstrating that the shoulder height of this pterosaur is some 2.5 m off the floor with a neck 3.5 m long and a skull exceeding 2 m in length. That's pretty large for any animal, let alone for one that could fly. Although this Texan pterosaur is large, other azhdarchid remains from Spain and Jordan indicate even bigger animals. Gosh.

No comments: