What is Quetzalcoatlus?
{{italictitle}} {{Taxobox | box_width = 230px | name = ''Quetzalcoatlus'' | image = Quetzalcoatlus.JPG | image_width = 230px | image_caption = Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt | fossil_range = [[Upper Cretaceous]] | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | classis = [[Sauropsid]]a | ordo = [[Pterosauria]] | subordo = [[Pterodactyloidea]] | familia = [[Azhdarchidae]] | genus = '''''Quetzalcoatlus''''' | genus_authority = Lawson, 1975 }} [[Image:Quetzalcoatlus 1.JPG|thumb|right|230px|Restored skeleton in quadrupedal stance]] '''''Quetzalcoatlus''''' <ref>The word comes from the [[Aztec]] language, and is the name of a Mesoamerican [[deity]] meaning 'feathered serpent'. It's pronounced something like 'Ketzal-ko-atlus'.</ref> was a huge [[pterosaur]], the largest [[animal]] ever to fly. It had a 10 to 12 [[metre|meters]] wing-span (33/40 feet),<ref>Langston, W. 1981. Pterosaurs, ''Scientific American'', '''244''': 122-136.</ref> but was light in construction (~200 pounds).<ref name=Atanassovletal2002>{{cite journal|title=How much did ''Archaeopteryx'' and ''Quetzalcoatlus'' weigh? Mass estimation by multivariate analysis of bone dimensions|author=Atanassov, Momchil N.; Strauss, Richard E.|year=2002|journal=Society of Vertebrate Paleontology}}</ref> ''Quetzalcoatlus'' had an unusually long [[neck]], and when it stood on the ground it was as tall as a [[giraffe]]. Its fossil record is from the [[Upper Cretaceous]] of [[North America]], 70–65.5 million years ago. ''Quetzalcoatlus'' became [[extinct]] at the [[K/T extinction event]]. == Its discovery == A [[college]] student found the first ''Quetzalcoatlus'' fossil in [[Big Bend National Park]] in [[Texas]]. His name was Douglas Lawson, from the University of Texas in [[Austin]]. When he was in the park, he saw a bone sticking out of a rock. Since the bone looked [[wikt:hollow|hollow]], like the bone of a [[bird]], he thought it was part of a flying creature – and he was right. With his professor's help, he kept digging until lots of bones from an [[arm]] and [[wing]] were found. T