The largest pterosaurs had wingspans like small aircraft and longer necks than giraffes. (Illustration by Davide Bonadonna)
Smithsonian Magazine has an interesting article about the largest pterosaurs. These animals were very large with the wingspans of small plaines (8 meters) and necks as long as a giraffe (1.5 meters). A recent paper (April 14th, 2021) in Science Magazine details how these animals supported their large head and necks with a novel spoke like structure inside their bones.
The azhdarchid group of pterosaurs were some of the largest animals ever to fly. The giant reptiles lived between 66 million and 225 million years ago, and their unusual proportions—big heads at the end of long, inflexible necks—have long puzzled scientists.
Now, research published on Wednesday in the journal Science offers a detailed look inside of the neck vertebrae of one pterosaur. To achieve the strength necessary to hold up its head and carry prey, while keeping the bone lightweight enough for flight, the vertebra has spokes like a bicycle wheel that connect a center column to the outer surface of the bone. The spokes follow a helical pattern, like a spiral staircase leading through the inside of the bone.
“We just could not believe it,” says University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign paleontologist Cariad Williams, to Rodrigo Pérez Ortega at Science magazine. “We have never seen anything like it before. … It was really impressive.”
