Early scientists estimated that this species of pterosaur may have weighed anywhere from 200 to 500 pounds. It now seems more likely that Quetzalcoatlus (whether … One early (1984) experiment by Paul MacCready used practical aerodynamics to test the flight of Quetzalcoatlus.MacCready constructed a model flying machine or ornithopter with a simple computer functioning as an autopilot. Fossils are rare for these winged giants, but the bones we have just don’t point in that direction. He calculates that the Quetzalcoatlus would have required 2440 watts of power in order to maintain level flight, but the pterosaur could probably only generate 1600 watts, according to Chatterjee. A quick Google search will tell you that these giant pterosaurs (which are often called dinosaurs but were actually part of the distinct pterosauria clade) were the largest flying beasts ever to inhabit the planet. Based on the inadvertent inclusion of jaw material of another pterosaur species, possibly a Tapejara or a form related to Tupuxuara. But when paleontologist Donald Henderson, curator of dinosaurs at Canada’s Royal Tyrrell Museum, saw a piece of art with an Arambourgiania philadelphiae next to a human and a Masai giraffe, his scientific Spidey sense tingled. The biomechanical analyses that claim that Quetzalcoatlus couldn't fly are based on inaccurate mass estimates and/or the incorrect assumption that pterosaurs took off the same way birds do. He claims that Chatterjee’s study is just not scientifically credible. And yet this small collection of bones is the launching pad for some truly amazing science, from which we can imagine a giraffe with wings taking flight. Many modern birds like the penguin and the ostrich are exclusively terrestrial. Instead the pterosaur would soar and glide in a similar fashion as the albatross. The two team up to complete Dino Experiment 8-1-6: could the Quetzalcoatlus fly? In order to stay in the air it probably would have relied on updrafts. It is capable of killing small dinosaurs, like Austroraptor and Orodromeus, with ease. It’s wings would have smashed into the ground on the downstroke. “This has never really become a major controversy within pterosaur research,” he tells Inverse. Furthermore, comparing their takeoff to scaled up bats is irrelevant because they are quite different anatomically from bats. Their wings would be either light membrane, or covered with light scales like butterflies, or feathers, like birds. The very largest may have flown very little, perhaps only to cover a short distance to check out new hunting grounds now and again. Paleontologists have analyzed the fossils of this pterosaur and many of them believe that it had no choice but to launch itself off of the side of cliffs and glide. If the Quetzalcoatlus attempted to use a catapult method of take-off similar to that of vampire bats it would not have been able to reach a height high enough for wing clearance. Their wingspan was about three times longer then that of a condor. David Unwin, a paleobiologist at the University of Leicester in England, agrees with Habib that Quetzalcoatlus could fly, but he's not convinced about the distance. Chatterjee argues that the pterosaur would still not have had the strength for powered flight. It had probably evolved to become flightless, like an ostrich or emperor penguin. If there’s a bridge between the positions of Henderson and Witton, it is embodied in Michael Habib, a professor at the University of Southern California and an expert in the biomechanics of pterosaur flight. Quetzalcoatlus facts and theories Some scientists have suggested that Quetzalcoatlus was so large that it was too heavy to fly. Quetzalcoatlus was a huge pterosaur, the largest animal ever to fly. This is contrary to earlier skull material, which seemed to have shown an unusually blunt snout. Nothing close to a complete skeleton has been found for these azhdarchid giants. The facts seem to side with the “flying” side of the argument, but its not conclusive. An animal the size of Quetzalcoatlus could consume victims as large as small dinosaurs, picking them up in its huge toothless jaws. Although Quetzalcoatlus was a pterosaur, that does not mean it was able to fly. Henderson, who’s a fan of using art as a launch point for science, set off to make his own mass estimates for the species. Third, computer models that show that Quetzalcoatlus couldn’t fly are based on size estimates that have a body that’s too big, and more to the point, outdated, based on what we now know of Quetzalcoatlus’s body. Paleontologists have analyzed the fossils of this pterosaur and many of them believe that it had no choice but to launch itself off of the side of cliffs and glide. If you ask him, every line of evidence points to giant pterosaurs that could fly quite well. The smaller size is better able to carry its own weight and then some. Don – probably correctly – assumed that such an animal would be too heavy to fly. Scale between the two Quetzalcoatlus species and a Human. That’s an idea that’s been put forward mostly by Witton and fellow pterosaur researcher Darren Naish. It had a 10 to 12 meters wing-span (33/40 feet), but was light in construction (~200 pounds).. Quetzalcoatlus had an unusually long neck, and when it stood on the ground it was as tall as a giraffe.. Its fossil record is from the Upper Cretaceous of North America, 70–65.5 million years ago. If these giants really were weighty behemoths who could take to the skies in spite of their size have on. Estimates of pterosaur mass including a 450 kg Quetzalcoatlus is also generally to... 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