abbyhoward

Extinct Creatures-- Nyctosaurus

Added 2016-09-30 21:48:39 +0000 UTC

Here is the last pterosaur I'll be posting for pterosaur week, and finally one that eats fish, Nyctosaurus. It lived in the late-ish (but not as late as Quetzalcoatlus) Cretaceous in what is now North America, where there was once a vast shallow sea. It likely remained in the air for long periods of time, gliding across the open waves in search of unlucky fish. It's been theorized that some pterosaurs could float on the waves, like many of our modern sea birds, so I've drawn in a couple sleepy Nyctosaurus taking a little rest on the ocean's surface.

Nyctosaurus is an example of a non-sexually-dimorphic group that had crests (though for Nyctosaurus, they're called "antlers"). Both male and female Nyctosaurus had those big tall sticks on their heads! Though they may have had other secondary sexual characteristics that have been lost to time, like differences in plumage or slight variation in antler length (which has been speculated).

And that wraps it up for this week of extinct creatures! And I want to re-iterate in case you're only just tuning in, pterosaurs are not dinosaurs, they are related to dinosaurs, but they are their own group and very distinct from dinos. They were warm blooded, and had a full coat of pycnofibers, which were kind of like hair. They were beautiful and elegant and we will never get to see how amazing they truly were and excuse me while I go cry again.

See you at some point next week for another creature! Maybe I'll finally do a marine reptile...

-Abby