Pterosaur Pterrors!

[Raffine]

Think pterosaurs were fragile kite-like critters who could barely handle a struggling fish?

Think again!

http://www.livescience.com/animals/080527-giant-reptile.html?ybf1=1


"If you go wading out into this soft mud, and you weigh a quarter of a ton, and you've got these dinky little feet, you're going to just sink in."

[indianasmith]

Doubly cool!

[Raffine]

Doubly cool!

I thought you'd get a kick out of this. It's hard to imagine how a flying animal this big could find enough to eat . . . but here they are.

I know the sauropod being caught is a baby . . . but just imagine if it were an adult!

Pterosaurs a thousand feet tall!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5jfCb6-2RA

I have an old book somewhere that theorized (with cool illustrations, of course) how dinosaurs, pterosaurs,  and other prehistoric critters would have eventually evolved if they had not become extinct. I remember one idea was that some pterosaurs would eventually evolve into giant flighless plains-dwelling herbivores that resembled giraffes. Imagine super giant carnivorous giraffes with hairy feathers!

[Andrew]

You know the real problem with being attacked by a giant bird (poetic license, grant me thy favor) that I can think of?  Being stomped on.  Have you ever seen a carnivorous bird kill its prey?  They have this ugly tendency to pin it down and then stomp on it with their feet, which usually have sharp ends.  I do not want a 500lb pterosaur stomping on me until I'm dead.

[Patient7]

You know the real problem with being attacked by a giant bird (poetic license, grant me thy favor) that I can think of?  Being stomped on.  Have you ever seen a carnivorous bird kill its prey?  They have this ugly tendency to pin it down and then stomp on it with their feet, which usually have sharp ends.  I do not want a 500lb pterosaur stomping on me until I'm dead.

That's pretty much what happens to a bug when you crush it.  I always have a slight fear that they might still be alive after that, seriously that would suck.