Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] The largest creature ever to fly on Earth. The Dracula pterosaur, which lived about 66 million years ago, was as tall as a giraffe when standing and had wings with a wingspan of 12 meters. One of the most remarkable specimens at the Altmultal Dinosaur Museum in Denkendorf, Germany, is the fossil of a pterosaur that lived in Transylvania, Romania, 66 million years ago. It may have been the largest creature to ever fly on Earth.
[00:00:28] When the fossil was discovered in the Haddig Basin, Transylvania, Romania, in 2009, scientists nicknamed it Dracula. The Altmultal Dinosaur Museum displays a replica of the Dracula fossil along with a model skeleton and a life size statue of the creature. Standing at an estimated 3.5 meters tall with a wingspan of 11.4 to 12 meters, it can be compared to a giraffe in height or a small airplane in flight.
[00:00:55] Dracula belonged to the pterosaur family Azhdarchidae, known for their enormous size, but most of the family members had wingspans of up to 10 meters. Thus, Dracula was a giant even compared to its relatives. However, the question that has puzzled scientists for years is whether a creature as massive as Dracula and even its pterosaur relatives could actually fly.
[00:01:18] A 2018 study in Scientific American suggested that Dracula's wrist joint characteristics might mean that the creature was not anatomically suited for flight. However, this remains speculative as Dracula's fossil is severely fragmented and incomplete. In a newly published study in the journal Current Biology In 2024, a team of scientists from the University of Leicester examined the evolutionary history of pterosaurs by studying their hand and foot fossils.
[00:01:48] During the research, they discovered a marked shift in the middle of the Jurassic period, when the anatomy of pterosaurs hands and feet became more similar to that of terrestrial animals. In early pterosaurs, the hind limbs were connected by a flying membrane, which greatly hindered walking and running. In later pterosaurs, this membrane split down the middle, allowing the hind limbs to move independently. This was a crucial innovation, combined with changes in the hands and feet that greatly enhance the terrestrial mobility of pterosaurs, said Dr. David Unwin, co author of the study. This was key to their ability to grow larger bodies. Once no longer restricted by climbing, later pterosaurs could grow to enormous sizes, with some becoming true giants of the Mesozoic Era 252 to 66 million years ago. Unwin said the fact that pterosaurs could fly is only part of the story.
[00:02:42] By exploring how they lived on trees or the ground, we can begin to understand their role in ancient ecosystems, said Robert Smith, the study's lead authority.
