A pterosaur is a type of flying reptile that lived millions of years ago. Its name is a combination of two Greek words: pteron, which means wing, and sauros, which means lizard. The p is silent, so it is pronounced terosaur.
There is much excitement right now in the field of paleontology because of a well-preserved fossil of a pterosaur found in Scotland. It’s a different species than had ever been found before, so it was given a name: Dearc sgiathanach (pronounced yark ski-an-ach), which means “winged reptile” in Gaelic.
Paleontologists study fossils of extinct animals and plants. A paleontologist named Amelia Penny was searching for fossils on Scotland’s Isle of Skye and saw part of a beak sticking out of a rock. When researchers uncovered the beak, they found that it was attached to a skull. When they uncovered the skull, they discovered it was attached to a skeleton.
This was very exciting because fossilized skeletons of pterosaurs are rare and are usually crushed flat by pressure and time.
Pterosaurs had hollow, very thin bones. This helped them be light enough to fly, but after death, their bones were not strong enough to survive millions of years in the ground.
This fossil, however, was not crushed flat. It was in its true size and shape.
The fossil was discovered back in 2017, but it has taken several years for researchers to uncover and study it.
The walls of the bones are thin as a piece of paper, and people on the project had to work slowly and carefully. They used special diamond-tipped saws to remove the fossilized bones from the rock they were embedded in.
When discussing the remains of an ancient animal, paleontologists note what period of time the creature lived in. Four of the time periods are:
• Triassic (251-201 million years ago)
• Jurassic (201-145 million years ago)
• Cretaceous (145-66 million years ago)
• Cenozoic (66 million years ago to present day)
Pterosaurs of one kind or another existed from 230 million years ago (middle of the Triassic period) to around 66 million years ago (the end of the Cretaceous period.) The newly discovered pterosaur died around 170 million years ago, which was the middle of the Jurassic period. It’s the largest pterosaur skeleton discovered from that time.
Researchers found that this pterosaur had a wingspan (the distance from wing tip to wing tip) of more than eight feet. This is about the same as a modern albatross.
Steve Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh, said he and his colleagues removed thin slices from the bones and analyzed them. They learned that the pterosaur was not fully grown when it died. It would have gotten even bigger.
Researchers also used scanning devices to study the inside of the skull. The brain, of course, is not there, but seeing where the brain had been helps them estimate its size and shape. They also studied where the ears had been.
No doubt, the University of Edinburgh will publish more findings as their study of the fossil continues.
Fun Facts.
• The newly discovered pterosaur, Dearc sgiathanach, lived around 170 million years ago. Tyrannosaurus rex lived about 72 million years ago. This means that T rex is closer to us in time than it is to Dearc sgiathanach.
• Many people call all extinct flying reptiles pterodactyls, but that isn’t exactly correct. A pterodactyl is a type of pterosaur, but not the only one.
• The word dinosaur (meaning “terrible lizard”) was invented by Sir Richard Owen in 1841.
• There are roughly 700 known species of dinosaurs.
• There is a much-loved book called “Can I Bring My Pterodactyl to School, Ms. Johnson?” It’s by Lois G. Grambling (Author) and Judy Love (Illustrator).
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