Posted on 05/26/2022 6:18:52 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Scientists have uncovered the remains of one of the largest pterosaurs on record, researchers announced in a study published Tuesday in the scientific journal Cretaceous Research.
The fossils are from the largest-ever pterosaur found in South America, and one of the largest flying vertebrates in the world, according to researchers.
The discovery of two separate animals was made in an outcrop in Argentina's Mendoza province and published in April.
The Thanatosdrakon amaru is a new azhdarchid, a member of the pterosaur family of large, flying predators, predominantly from the Late Cretaceous Period.
The name is a combination of Thanatos, the Greek word for death, and drakon, meaning dragon, leading scientists to call it the Dragon of Death.
Researchers confirmed they lived between 146 million and 66 million years ago, or approximately 20 million years before a catastrophic asteroid collided with Earth.
Wingspans of the two animals measured approximately 23 feet wide and 30 feet wide, around the length of a school bus. With no predatory rivals, pterosaurs are believed to have flown on all continents, in various different shapes.
"The remains of Thanatosdrakon present different particularities that allow us to differentiate them from other known pterosaurs," study lead author Leonardo Ortiz of Argentina's Laboratory and Museum of Dinosaurs told USA Today.
"Fundamentally, these characteristics are found in the vertebrae and limbs. This allowed us to establish a new species of pterosaur."
Yeah it wont work out that way
You gonna be eaten
Pencil necked geek if you ask me.
I’ll feed the dragon leftists. People will love me!
Are you SURE you want to scoop that poop?
.
>Let me know when I can buy one.
I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs,
its strength and its graceful form.
Who can strip off its outer coat?
Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?
Who dares open the doors of its mouth,
ringed about with fearsome teeth?
Its back has rows of shields
tightly sealed together;
each is so close to the next
that no air can pass between.
They are joined fast to one another;
they cling together and cannot be parted.
Its snorting throws out flashes of light;
its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
Flames stream from its mouth;
sparks of fire shoot out.
Smoke pours from its nostrils
as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
Its breath sets coals ablaze,
and flames dart from its mouth.
Strength resides in its neck;
dismay goes before it.
The folds of its flesh are tightly joined;
they are firm and immovable.
Its chest is hard as rock,
hard as a lower millstone.
When it rises up, the mighty are terrified;
they retreat before its thrashing.
The sword that reaches it has no effect,
nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.
Iron it treats like straw
and bronze like rotten wood.
Arrows do not make it flee;
slingstones are like chaff to it.
A club seems to it but a piece of straw;
it laughs at the rattling of the lance.
Its undersides are jagged potsherds,
leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron
and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
It leaves a glistening wake behind it;
one would think the deep had white hair.
Nothing on earth is its equal—
a creature without fear.
It looks down on all that are haughty;
it is king over all that are proud. Job 41
It would appear that the dinosaurs ate well.
Tastes like chicken!
Rummaging into the fossile record, uncovering your old pets!
No problem. I live in Kali. Lots of pools. They’ll think a condor crapped in it. 😉
More nonsense from “scientists”. They use a great amount of imagination and artistic license in creating those replicas.
I knew dragons were real 🙂
If they recover DNA, you know they are going to want to recreate it.
'The felt effect of the force of gravity on earth was much less in remote times, and only this allowed such giant creatures to fly. No flying creature has since RE-EVOLVED into anything like former sizes, and the one or two birds which have retained such sizes have forfeited any thought of flight, their wings becoming vestigial.'
Any real scientist would refrain from such childish and simple-minded hyperbole.
The atmosphere was a different density back millions of years ago. Steeper volcanic mountains helped takeoffs. Modern birds seek out steep Norwegian cliffs to fledge their young.
Our cartographer predecessors, who’d seen large fossil “monsters” might write “Here be Dragons” in Latin—and not be wrong!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.