Do you still think pterosaurs are dinosaurs? In fact, it is just a kind of flying reptile. So, who are the flying dinosaurs? Let's take a look!
Archaeopteryx is not a bird
Many people think that the ancestor of birds is Archaeopteryx because it has wings and feathers, and its head is also like a bird. But it is not the ancestor of birds, nor does it belong to birds, but a small theropod dinosaur.
Archaeopteryx
Place of discovery: Germany
Age of life: Jurassic period about 150 million years ago
Archaeopteryx has asymmetrical feathers on its forelimbs, and it can use the difference in air pressure generated by the feathers up and down to enable the limbs to obtain an upward force and achieve a certain flight. However, there are still many places in the archaeopteryx's body that are not mature, such as the barb-shaped wing feathers of modern birds, but the feathers of Archaeopteryx are not; the palms of its forelimbs have not yet fully healed, and there are claws exposed at the ends of its fingers. Therefore, Archaeopteryx can only fly short distances, short time, and low altitudes.
The true ancestor of birds, the Confucius bird
Scientists believe that the Confucius bird is the ancestor of birds. The Confucius bird is similar in size to Archaeopteryx, with a body length of about 50 cm and a weight ranging from 0.2 to 1.5 kg. But Archaeopteryx still had a tooth structure, while The teeth of the Confucius bird had degenerated, moving closer to modern birds; and it had the earliest beak.
Confucius Bird
Place of discovery: Liaoning, China
Age of life: 120 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period
The wings of the Confucius bird have long feathers, even longer than the feathers of modern birds, and some of the feathers have appeared barb-like structures, which facilitate the feathers to lock each other into a plane to beat the airflow; it also has a pair of slender tail feathers, and the shape of the wings tends to be consistent with birds in dense forests. All this shows that the Confucius bird is likely to have stable and flexible flight capabilities.
Four-winged flying little raptor
Little Robberosaurus is one of the smallest known dinosaurs in the world, only 40 to 80 centimeters long and weighing only about 1 kilogram. Covered with a thick layer of feathers, with long barb-like feathers on their forelimbs, hind limbs and head, they are the first dinosaurs to have four wings found so far, and all four wings can help flight.
Little Thorn
Age of life: 130 million years ago to the end of the Cretaceous period 126 million years ago
According to biologists, small robbers may have inhabited trees and could glide freely through the forest. It was also a carnivorous dinosaur, feeding on other smaller dinosaurs or insects, and occasionally eating carrion.
A hot river bird that loves to eat seeds
The Hot River bird is also small , reaching 75 to 85 cm in length as an adult ; it has a very slender tail , consisting of more than twenty tail vertebrae , and the feathers at the tip of the tail are sparsely fan-shaped. The forelimbs of the hot river bird are longer than the hind limbs, the muscles are stronger, and the shoulder blades (the bones that control the upper and lower flapping of the forelimbs) are also more developed, indicating that the hot river bird is likely to have some flight ability.
Hot river bird
Place of discovery: Hebei, China
Age of life: Late Cretaceous 122 million years ago
In addition, scientists have found a large number of plant seeds in the stomach of a fossil hot river bird, indicating that the hot river bird feeds on plant seeds.
Millennial Chinese bird dragon with long poisonous glands
The body length of the Millennium Chinese Bird Dragon is about 90 to 120 cm. Their skeletal structure is very similar to that of Archaeopteryx, and they have feathers on both the forelimbs and hind limbs, which can be used to glide.
Millennium Chinese Bird Dragon
Age of life: The end of the Cretaceous period, about 125 million years ago
Millennium Chinese ornithopods were carnivorous dinosaurs, and they were likely to glide down from the trees behind their prey and launch a surprise attack, while using a special weapon, the venom gland located in the upper jaw, when biting the prey, injected the venom produced by the venom glands into the prey through their teeth, causing it to fall into paralysis or even shock.