What Did Pterosaurs Eat ?
In prehistoric times, what the dinosaur was to land, the Pterosaur was to the skies. They were called ‘winged lizards’ and dominated their natural aerial environment for 166 million years. |
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Paleontologists believe that Pterosaurs had evolved from even older gliding lizards. These flying animals had skin flaps attached to their sides which would keep them afloat in a glide for distances up to 13 meters.
Pterosaurs ranged in size from that of a small bird to the largest, the size of an adult human male. The largest of them -- Quetzalcoatlus had a wing span of around 12 meters, the same span, wing-tip to wing-tip of a small aircraft. Pterosaurs also came in a large variety of species with beaks that evolved into different shapes determined by their natural food pattern. They also had vivid, decorative crests. Still others had tails that helped maintain their balance. But two features were common to all species:
- Their skeletal structure of hollow, slender super-light bones.
- They had long swept back wings of a thin membrane of skin which projected from the sides of their bodies and ended at an unusually long fourth finger. The skeletal support for the wing was a long, slender arm.
Most varieties of pterosaurs appear to have been fish eaters while others fed on insects. The sieve-like bottom jaw of the Pterosaustro could well have been to filter small aquatic animals, while the pincer-like beak of the Dzungaripterus was probably used to prise shellfish adhering to rocks. It is believed that some species preyed on small dinosaurs and lizards.
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