Found: An ancient flying lizard with a massive, sail-shaped crest

A flying reptile whose head was topped with a big bony crest shaped like the sail of a yacht swooped through the skies over Brazil roughly 90 million years ago.......

Meet the Caiuajara dobruskii: one of the craziest extinct flying lizards you'll ever see. The newly discovered animal is a member of the order Pterosauria, a clade of flying lizards that lived during the time of the dinosaurs.

Scientists are still not entirely sure what its wingspan looked like, but they say it was somewhere between 2 feet and 8 feet, depending on the age of the individual.

The discovery in what was once a desert in southern Brazil is remarkable not just because no one had ever seen a crest that size on a pterosaur before, but also because the researchers found hundreds of bones from at least 47 individuals of the same species within a 65-square-foot area.

Source

Pterosaurs were Earth's first flying vertebrates, with birds and bats making their appearances much later. They thrived from about 220 million years ago to 65 million years ago



The Caiuajara sure were bizarre and intimidating looking, even tho they were toothless and most likely fruit eaters

Very strange looking, to say the least!!
Kinda looks like something from the SyFy movie 'Pitch Black'

Not sure how they came up with the coloring, but pretty awesome regardless!!

Thought I would share this for those that enjoy this kind of stuff



Flock of ancient 'butterfly-headed' flying reptiles discovered

I would guess it had some control like an anole's throat where it is laid flat unless required for display which would also imply that it was more colorful than the rest of the body. Just speculation. Neat find though.

I always wondered and forgive my ignorance, but if we were to slowly increase oxygen levels over a long period of time, would we and the animals around us adapt and increase in size.

After all, it was the oxygen levels back then that made everything so big right? I look at nature around me and I hate that I always have to focus hard before "it" flies away or I won't notice it. How cool would it be to ride an oversized beetle?

originally posted by: Rosinitiate
I always wondered and forgive my ignorance, but if we were to slowly increase oxygen levels over a long period of time, would we and the animals around us adapt and increase in size.

After all, it was the oxygen levels back then that made everything so big right? I look at nature around me and I hate that I always have to focus hard before "it" flies away or I won't notice it. How cool would it be to ride an oversized beetle?

Growing larger is one way of reducing your surface-area/volume ratio to avoid oxygen poisoning. This is particularly important for larvae which absorbed oxygen through their skin.

news.nationalgeographic.com...

originally posted by: stormcell

originally posted by: Rosinitiate
I always wondered and forgive my ignorance, but if we were to slowly increase oxygen levels over a long period of time, would we and the animals around us adapt and increase in size.

After all, it was the oxygen levels back then that made everything so big right? I look at nature around me and I hate that I always have to focus hard before "it" flies away or I won't notice it. How cool would it be to ride an oversized beetle?

Growing larger is one way of reducing your surface-area/volume ratio to avoid oxygen poisoning. This is particularly important for larvae which absorbed oxygen through their skin.

news.nationalgeographic.com...

Cool link thanks. So than it IS possible to ride a beetle!

I need to start planting trees! Lots of'em.

It looks like someone drew a giant butterfly on a t Rex wearing inflatable swimming gear.

a reply to: snarky412



That must be called the Nope-a-saurus.

very cool.

for some reason that picture reminded me of Roger Dean's album covers for the awesome english prog rock band 'YES'