#所见所得, all science #Movie and reality: Dimorphic pterosaur
There is an ugly-looking strange pterosaur in "Jurassic World", what does it really look like?
There are many new species in the movie "Jurassic World 1", including an ugly pterosaur with a large mouth full of fangs, which almost made the male protagonist receive a box lunch in the movie (Figures 2 and 3). From the long tail of this pterosaur, it can be judged that it belongs to the suborder Beak-billed Dragon, which is a relatively primitive pterosaur, which is the dimorphodon.
The real double-shaped pterosaur is not as strong and fierce as in the movie, but a small pterosaur that feeds on small animals, with a wingspan of only 1.45 meters, including a tail length of only 1 meter (pictured), which cannot pose a substantial threat to humans, let alone kill!
Paleontologists have long thought that real diplodonts ate fish, but Bestwick, a paleontologist at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, decided to explore the truth in a completely new way. Using a focused microscope, Bestwick obtained a 3D image of the teeth of a diplodont pterosaur with very clear wear on them (Figure 7). Bestwick then collected the wear on the teeth of today's animals such as lizards and crocodiles when eating different foods, and then statistically compared the tooth wear of diplodont pterosaurs, and the results were unexpected. The diet of diplodonts was completely different from what had been previously speculated, and the wear of its teeth suggests that the main food was insects and terrestrial vertebrates (lizards, etc.), rather than fish.
After understanding the diet of the diplodont pterosaur, paleontologists can better restore its lifestyle, it seems that this pterosaur does not fly above the sea all day, they spend more time on the ground in the forest, running on all fours to chase prey (Figure 8).
Is the real diplodont pterosaur far from the dimorphic pterosaur in the movie? Paleontological artist Mario Lanzas compared the movie with the real bimorphic pterosaur, and you can see that the dimorphic pterosaur in the "Jurassic World" series is a monster in the face of scientific restoration! Of course, I personally think that scientific restoration looks good, which one do you prefer?
Text Editor: Jiang's Microraptor
The picture comes from the Internet, invaded and deleted
