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Flying Reptile The Size of A Small Airplane

Posted by Zonk on from the mind-the-droppings dept.

An anonymous reader wrote to mention a New Zealand Herald article about a pterosaur that has been discovered to have an almost 18 meter wingspan. From the article: "A Spitfire has a wingspan of 11m and has to be powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. Pterosaurs did it on a diet of fish and a superb ability to utilise air currents, thermals and ground effects. There is nothing close to pterosaurs alive today. Pterosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago, they left no descendants and we don't know quite what their closest relative was."

6 of 264 comments (clear)

  1. closest relative? by cperciva · · Score: 5, Funny

    Pterosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago, they left no descendants and we don't know quite what their closest relative was

    I'm going to go out on a limb, and guess that the closest relative to a Pterosaur would be another Pterosaur.

    Either that, or a Spitfire.

    --
    Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
  2. BREAKING NEWS!!! by iluvcapra · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dinosaurs were big.

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
  3. I know one by rasty · · Score: 5, Funny

    Pterosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago, they left no descendants and we don't know quite what their closest relative was

    My mother in law.

  4. Re:I for one by ettlz · · Score: 5, Funny
    I for one welcome our airplane sized reptile overlords

    Idiot, they're extinct.

  5. Re:Well duh by GbrDead · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, but the evolution of planes is... intelligent design :-)

  6. Re:What about performance? by Hast · · Score: 5, Funny

    No they are not fish powered, I hear then run on Petrosaurses. Very very dead ones.