Gigantic toothless 'DRAGONS' dominated Earth's early skies

A new study by Russian paleontologists has revealed the dominance of a species of huge flying lizards that once flew over Earth's skies. Azhdarchid pterosaurs Azhdarchid pterosaurs ... creatures the size of small aircraft encircled the globe The creatures, named Azhdarchid pterosaurs after the Persian word Aždarha meaning …

[Joe 48]

Did they discover this

By using a FOI request?? I wonder how the Russians plan to deal with the issue should it happen?

[Erix]

To fly, to serve?

Are the two birds in front really wearing British Airways stewardess hats?

Evolution, it seems, is not without a sense of irony

[dan1980]

Re: To fly, to serve?

Harsh, but funny.

[Neil Barnes]

Re: To fly, to serve?

Berets, I thought.

[Tom 260]

Re: To fly, to serve?

The colours are a bit whacky, I appreciate that the idea of "all" (or certainly later) dinosaurs having proto-feathers is gaining traction, but looking at modern avian predators, they're generally variants of brown and grey, with maybe a bit of white, the same evolutionary pressures on birds of prey should mostly apply to Pterosaurs.

[Mike Manship]

Not a Dragon....

If it didn't breathe fire.

[Anomalous Cowshed]

Re: Not a Dragon....

Not all dragons are mythical creatures that breathe fire.

There are dragons which breathe fire metaphorically.

In fact, there are quite a few of those living in cities around us. Some of us even have one or two lurking around our very own homes. One particular species is known in pub jargon as "@%!?!!" *.

* In English = mother-in-losorus.

[tempemeaty]

Huge

I just did a duckduckgo search and found a image of this beast depicted with a human for scale and holy crud this thing is huge!

[Aqua Marina]

You're having a giraffe!

That's not a dragon, someone's drawn wings on a giraffe.

[wowfood]

/but

It only has 2 legs, so doesn't that technically mean that this is a wyvern, and not a dragon?

[Paul Crawford]

Re: /but

Don't know, but the Soup Dragon had 4 legs and 2 arms instead of wings, presumably from finding an ecological nice in serving soup and blue string pudding. Guess that is evolution for you...

[Scroticus Canis]

Re: /but @ Paul Crawford

Of course the Soup Dragon didn't need wings and evolved arms instead; there is no atmosphere (well not much) on the moon for wings to work with. What beats me though is how the Clangers managed to get sound to travel in the near perfect vacuum. Any ideas anyone?

[Martin Budden]

Re: /but @ Paul Crawford

According to the font of all (mis)information, Wikipedia, "The series creators have said that the Clangers, living in vacuum, did not communicate by sound, but rather by a type of nuclear magnetic resonance, which was translated to audible whistles for the human audience."

More excitingly, the Clangers are coming back!

[Hairy Spod]

I still dont get the asteroid thingy and why its got so much traction

I dont deny the big epic asteroid impact and there's more than enough geological evidence for it having happened. Its linking it to the extinctions I struggle with

Asteroid causing mass near instant exitinctions I can get, asteroid causing a mass extinction over the next umpteen million years is something of a stretch.

Are there any theories about some kind of species specific disease yet like the fungal thing thats wiping out lots of amphibians around the globe at the moment?

[sandman]

Re: I still dont get the asteroid thingy and why its got so much traction

Um, there's no evidence for any dinosaur/pterosaur survival after the KT Boundary (handily marked by a globally distributed layer if Iridium from the meteorite). The reference in the piece to extinctions is confusing two different ones.Read the actual paper and you'll see that there are no toothless pterosaur fossils found after the late Maastrichtian (terminated by the above mentioned impact). The toothed Pterosaurs disappeared rather earlier (Turonian) in a completely different extinction that seems to have nothing to do with meteorites.

Either the planet or the rest of the universe will get us one way or another, sooner or later ;-)

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: I still dont get the asteroid thingy and why its got so much traction

sandman,

I have to dispute your statement here. Many dinosaurs survived the Late Maastrichtian period.

Obviously the Majorsaurus died out quite quickly, along with the Portillodon. But the Redwoodopteris, BillCashasaurus, Whittingdaledactyl are still very much with us. Not to mentin the IainDuncanSmithasaurus Rex...

I'd probably best get my coat.

[Martin Budden]

Re: I still dont get the asteroid thingy and why its got so much traction

What do you call a killdeer with one eye? A Doyouthinkhesaurus.

[Bunbury]

Re: I still dont get the asteroid thingy and why its got so much traction

There's very good evidence for the impact of a big rock at the end of the Cretaceous - impact site, impact strata at the boundary etc. It could be a co-incidence of course and something else finished them off - the Deccan traps eruptions and their impact on climate have attracted speculation. But the extinction was widespread amongst land and marine species. It seems unlikely that a disease would be able to attack so many different types of organisms.

The extinctions were not over umpteen million years as far as we know. Below the boundary, these animals occur, above they don't. Having said that, there are the usual caveats around the fossil record: fossilisation is a very rare process so the animals may have been there but by chance we don't see them, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence etc.

[Bronek Kozicki]

must be French

they wear berets and eat frogs (sort of)

[Lars]

Re: must be French

And very early aviators.

[Fun Fun]

No teeth = excellent flyer

I think losing teeth means it has evolved into a fully professional flyer.

Birds do not have fingers/claws in their arms, so they can not scrape residual food or bigger chunks from between their teeth. Therefore they evolve into a teethless species. The same goes for snakes. No hands, therefore no teeth (except those poisonous ones).

Remember the small hands of T. rex? What use were they for? Surely not for bullying or any other high force endeavours. I say those were for its teeth, to help it clean the teeth and take off those pieces of meat that stuck..

[Elmer Phud]

Re: No teeth = excellent flyer

"Remember the small hands of T. rex? What use were they for?"

Keeping a decent hand of cards close.

[Bunbury]

Re: No teeth = excellent flyer

I'd assumed that they were used during the "dosy-do" bit of dinosaur barn dancing.

[AbelSoul]

Re: No teeth = excellent flyer

Remember the small hands of T. rex? What use were they for?

This?

[Yesnomaybe]

Re: No teeth = excellent flyer

Crocodiles can't pick their teeth, and yet they have existed in one form or another for quite a while. I think this theory is lacking credibility.

[phil dude]

Re: No teeth = excellent flyer

there is a small bird (the Plover) that does it for them...

P.

[Martin Budden]

Re: No teeth = excellent flyer @ phil dude

How does a bird in Egypt help the crocs in Australia???

[Fun Fun]

Re: No teeth = excellent flyer

"Crocodiles can't pick their teeth, and yet they have existed in one form or another for quite a while. I think this theory is lacking credibility." /yesnomaybe

But crocodiles have viscosity/volume of water to get hold of big chunks + they use birds help to clean their teeth.

[Scroticus Canis]

Re: No teeth = excellent flyer

If you think snakes don't have teeth try getting your hand free from a constrictor's bite. They are not poisonous but have a load of bloody sharp teeth all pointing backwards. As for T. Rex being able to pick it's teeth with it fore limbs they don't reach that high they are so short. That's why the least favourite T . Rex sing song is "If your happy and you know it clap your ....Oh bugger"

[ToddR]

Re: No teeth = excellent flyer

All snakes have teeth

[WraithCadmus]

Not a dragon

No big beefy arm coming out of the back

Icon: Countryside and peasants

[Mage]

ROC

There was a very large NZ bird (contemporary to humans) that may be the origin of the Arabian Roc myths.

These though are not Dragons. Maybe Wyverns.

[P. Lee]

Re: ROC

>There was a very large NZ bird (contemporary to humans) that may be the origin of the Arabian Roc myths.

The Kiwi? Now that's a bit of a stretch!

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: ROC

He may have meant the Moa.

[launcap]

Re: ROC

A species confined to Autralasia is responsible for the Arabian stories about Rocs?

Tell me - did you do geography at school?

[Joe User]

Re: ROC

A species confined to Autralasia is responsible for the Arabian stories about Rocs?

More likely sailors' stories about the elephant birds, which were native to Madagascar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_bird

[The elephant in the room]

Gigantic ancient toothless dragon?

Comedy dinosaur Les Dawson would have fashioned a mother-in-law joke from this! But the dinosaurs died out, and mothers-in-law evolved into yo mamas.

[Robert Helpmann??]

Geographical Oddity

A species confined to Autralasia is responsible for the Arabian stories about Rocs? Tell me - did you do geography at school?

Because folks from that area never got out and about? I wouldn't care to speculate on the origins of a myth, but the premise of the stories I am aware of about rocs involve sailors encountering them. Of course, sailors never talk to anyone when away from their home ports and are certainly not known for embellishing a tale, so you are probably right that there is no way a story of this nature could have its roots in some far-away place.

[Zack Mollusc]

fish?

I am not sure that the Azhdarchid Pterosaurs would have eaten fish. I have seen hang-glider and microlight pilots cluster near rivers and lakes and they nearly always ate cream buns and drank cups of tea.

[Mark Ireland-Spicer 1]

re: ROC @ P.Lee

The reference is to the Haast eagle. This bird had a wingspan of a around 3m and ate Moa's!

[ToddR]

Re: re: ROC @ P.Lee

and a few Maori too

[Faux Science Slayer]

Jurassic Air Density Was FOUR TIMES Present !

The reason that flying reptiles and insects of 60 million years ago had DOUBLE the current wingspan limits was because there was at least double, and likely four times the atmospheric density of present. Aeronautical engineers analyzed these creatures with double the wingspan, and considering no magnitude increase in muscle strength, or magnitude decrease in skeletal/body mass, the ONLY conclusion is that the required "lift" was from denser atmosphere. Since lift is a function of wing area, double wing span could provide the square, or four times the lift.

All extrapolations to Jurassic conditions by Paleontologist and climate alchemists on past conditions that ignore this reality are FALSE. This additional air mass buffered the daily temperature swings, giving less variation than present and solving the hot/cold blood issue. For more on the TRUE aspect of atmosphere and Earth temperature see....

"Greenhouse Gas Ptolemaic Model" at the Faux Science Slayer site.

Find and share Truth....it is your duty as an Earthling.

[kmarinas86]

Forked over by Chopsticks

So the "dragons" born with forks in their mouth perished, and those born with chopsticks as a mouth thrived. Very interesting. Perhaps there is a relationship to China?