Plane-size flying predator’s remain discovered in Mongolia
70-million-year-old remains of enormous flying predator that feasted on baby dinosaurs discovered in Mongolia.
The 70-million-year-old remains of an enormous flying predator that feasted on baby dinosaurs have been discovered in Mongolia. The flesh-eating reptile, which was the size of a small plane with a wingspan stretching 11 meters, was likely one of the largest animals ever to fly. It could have walked on all fours using its wings as front limbs to stalk prey on the ground, researchers said, and would have stood as tall as a giraffe. The bones of a pterosaur that feasted on dinosaurs have been discovered in Mongolia. The reptile was one of the largest animals ever to fly. Because of its size, the new carnivore is thought to have eaten juvenile or small dinosaurs, which were common during the Late Cretaceous period when the animal lived. The fossil was found in a region of Mongolia's Gobi desert known as the Nemegt Formation, an area where many dinosaur bones have been found before. It is thought the beast was a pterosaur, a group of giant flying reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs. The animals were the first vertebrates known to evolve the power of flight, and are thought to have been the largest flying animals ever seen on Earth. While the species unearthed in Mongolia has not yet been identified, researchers were struck by the sheer size of the backbone fragments found.
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