Pteranodon

Pteranodon's History

Pteranodon is a large flying reptile with a wingspan measuring as long as a school bus. These reptiles did not have feathers but rather had a basal type of integument along the same lineage from which feathers evolved, called pycnofibers. Pycnofibers were very hair-like in appearance and, like hair, were made of keratin.

Members of the Pterosaur order lived through much of the Mesozoic, some species of Pterosaurs with wingspans close to 11 meters (36 feet). Pteranodon males had a wingspan of 5 meters (16 feet), while females had a wingspan of 3 meters (10 feet), making the males one of the largest Pterosaurs found.

Pteranodon means "toothless wing," but despite this, it appears with teeth in one of the movies. It probably used the long crest on the back of its head to help it steer while flying.

Their diet was comprised of fish and scavenged remains of dead marine animals. Quite a few Pteranodon skeletons have been found in Kansas in the central part of the U.S. This would have been the shore of a shallow sea when these creatures were alive, supporting the theory that they were fish eaters.

Pteranodon was successfully recreated by InGen in their lab on Isla Sorna where they were fed and parented in captivity being raised in the Isla Sorna Aviary.

There were four variations of the cloned Pteranodon, which all had abnormal features that their original counterpart lacked. However, there were common characteristics exhibited in the clones, such as a lack of pycnofibres on their bodies, which all pterosaurs had, was adapted to different regions than the original, and the ability to use their hind legs for grasping. They did not appear to have any sexual dimorphism. The geneticists probably removed sexual dimorphism from the recreations because they wanted all the clones to be born female and Pteranodon's famous crest belonged only to males in the genus.

The variation that was seen at the end of The Lost World: Jurassic Park had many characteristics of birds that can be seen in its bipedal gait and neck posture with a hooked beak. Their bodies were black, with the wing membrane tan and the back of the wings dark brown. Their heads were blue with a yellow beak.

The second variation was the most commonly encountered and retained the quadrupedal gait of the pterosaurs, but it had teeth lining its beak, great strength, and feet like a bird of prey, as well as having a lifestyle just like one. They laid an estimate of six eggs and their young was able to fly at an early age, but it seemed to be limited so the juveniles could not hunt for themselves, requiring an adult to fetch them their food. This variation of Pteranodon had a color scheme consisting of tan and brown, but also had splotches of black on the tips of its wings and its beak. This variation was also larger than the real Pteranodon by having a 32 ft wingspan, which is nearly the size of the largest pterosaurs Quetzalcoatlus and Hatzegopteryx.

The third variation was an actual species that existed before the cloning process named Pteranodon sternbergi, which has since been reassigned by some recent work in 2010 to a separate genus, Geosternbergia, though this recent revision isn't universally accepted within the scientific community. It too had a hooked beak like the first variation. Unlike the other variations, however, these had pycnofibres like their original counterpart.

The fourth variation from Masrani's Jurassic World park were more close to the original animal, lacking teeth and the females lacking crests that were the size of the males. However, they still could use their feet to grab objects like the clones. Their bodies were gray with their heads being either dark red or blue and had an orange wing membrane. These new Pteranodon clones are also shown to have the ability to dive and swim underwater, similar to modern-day seabirds.