Everyone knows about the birds and the bees—no, no, not the birds and bees talk we're supposed to give to our offspring. Rather, the fact that bees, along with other insects, and birds are two of the three living groups of animals that can fly. The third group, the bats, round out the roster of present-day flying creatures. However, there used to be a fourth set of flyers, the pterosaurs. These often are tossed in with the dinosaurs by the media and toy-makers. In reality, though, they were a separate group of reptiles roaming the skies of the middle and late Mesozoic geologic era.
Sizes were long thought to range from sparrow size to those of the
largest birds—until our Chihuahuan Desert gave up a specimen that rivals a small
aircraft. Remains from Big Bend National Park have documented what is the largest known
flying organism, with an estimated wing span of around 36-39 feet. Burdened with the
tongue-twisting name of Quetzalcoatlus northropi, this magnificent flying
machine has forced us to rethink the limits of natural flight.
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Quetzalcoatlus, National Park Service.