Growing Up Pterosaur

Before birds and bats, pterosaurs were the first flying vertebrates in Earth's history.

When pterosaurs were first discovered, most scientists recognized that they were flying animals, but just how they got into the air was a mystery.

Early ideas about pterosaurs considered them to be gliders or poor fliers that needed to jump from trees or cliffs to get airborne. Others thought that they needed to run while flapping, like many large birds.

Modern computer modeling of pterosaur skeletons shows that they could not get airborne by running and flapping, but instead used something called a Quad Launch.

Little Flaplings

The skeletons of embryonic pterosaurs still in their eggs as well as newly hatched babies show that the limb bones and joints were normally strong and fully developed at the time of hatching. Unlike most birds, most pterosaurs were born ready to fly, and may have been able to get into the air in the first few hours or days of life. Hamipterus seems to have been an exception, dozens of fossils show its young were relatively helpless.

Nesting Ground

There are few known pterosaur nesting grounds, and like many migratory birds, at least some pterosaurs nested in large numbers on isolated islands or beaches, far from predators. The fossil nesting ground of Hamipterus was preserved when their lakeshore nests were swept away by flood waters, killing large numbers of adults and fossilizing more than two hundred eggs.

Growing Up Pterosaur

Little Flaplings

Nesting Ground

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