TITANIC pterosaurs that soared through the skies while dinosaurs roamed below
were actually outsized freaks of their species.
Pterosaurs were the largest creatures that ever flew. One species dug up in
Texas, Quetzalcoatlus, had a wingspan of 12 metres. Fossils recently discovered
in Romania and Spain indicate that other types of pterosaur may have reached a
similar size.
But David Unwin of the Museum of Natural History at Humboldt University in
Berlin says that the biggest individuals were aberrations. His study of a
handful of pterosaur species with 20 or more known individuals showed that a few
grew to twice…
