Giant reptiles swooped over the seas, seeking and stabbing fish and returning them to shore. These reptiles are known as pterosaurs. Pterosaurs included Dimorphodon, a small and primitive one, the famous Pteranodon (23 feet long), and Quetzcoatl the largest pterosaur of all. Quetzcoatl measured 51 feet in length! Surprisingly, these reptiles were light compared to their massive size. The reason was that their bones were all hollow, and the bone walls were only one millimeter thick! This had its drawbacks, too. The chest bones of the pterosaurs could not maintain strong muscles, which meant that they couldn't flap their wings. They could only glide. On the land, they must have been gawky. Their wings would have folded up on their back and they had to use their fingers for support. They probably hung on cliffs, or in the trees, which meant that they relied on the good wind to help them aloft. Although the pterosaurs eventually grew a thin layer of "fur" to keep insulated, it could not keep up with the climate changes at the end of the Cretaceous. By the start of the Cenozoic, they had all been replaced by their more adept relatives, the birds.

Mesozoic Era: Cretaceous Period: CreatureFeature