This page is a shoreline seen from the air. Pterosaurs were not dinosaurs, and not birds: they were flying reptiles. Move your pointer and one will fly after you. Choose a different one at the bottom, and tap the notes to open them.
That is twice the wingspan of the largest flying bird alive, the wandering albatross.
Its name means winged and toothless. It scooped fish in its long beak.
Males were larger, with long crests. Females were smaller, with short ones.
Its fossils are found in rocks that formed hundreds of miles from the nearest shore.
It is the best-known pterosaur of all.
For all its size, it probably weighed no more than a small adult.
Meet them all
Winged and toothless · teh-RAN-oh-don
A large flying reptile with a long toothless beak and a long crest pointing back from its head.
Named after the feathered serpent god · KWET-zal-co-AT-lus
A gigantic flying reptile with a very long, stiff neck and a long, pointed, toothless beak.
Beak snout · RAM-foe-RINK-us
A small flying reptile with a long tail ending in a diamond-shaped vane, and jaws of forward-pointing teeth.
Two-form tooth · die-MOR-foe-don
A small flying reptile with a big, deep head, a long tail and two different kinds of teeth.
Its real name is Pterodactylus · Winged finger · TEH-roe-DAK-til-us
A small flying reptile with a long, narrow beak full of small teeth, a short tail and a low crest.
The old being · TAP-eh-JAR-ah
A flying reptile with a short, down-turned toothless beak and an enormous sail-like crest on its head.
Good to know
Pterodactyl is the name of just one kind. The whole group are pterosaurs, which means winged lizards.
The wing was skin stretched from the fourth finger to the body and leg.
They had a coat of fine fuzz and were almost certainly warm-blooded.
Footprints show them walking on their feet and on the knuckles of their folded wings.
Big ones probably took off by pushing up with their strong arms, like a pole-vaulter.
Their bones were hollow, with walls as thin as a playing card, which is why good fossils are rare.
Sea and sky: 1 more place
Real fossils, skeletons and museum models of the animals on this page. Tap one to see it bigger.
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons and are used under free licences. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews. Open a photo to see who took it.
Pterosaurs were the first animals with a backbone to fly, and they did it for more than 150 million years. The biggest were the largest flying creatures there have ever been.
Back to the topIn the sea live on their own page: choosing one takes you there.
Animals from other periods live on their own pages: choose another.