A colony of these winged serpents lived in the woods nearby Penllin Castle, Glamorgan. Eyewitnesses describe them as very beautiful. In 1793 the flying serpents were included in official Government reports. These were not the creatures of fairy tales or fables, but real live breathing creatures. They, along with their behavioral traits and migrating patterns were so familiar to the people that they predicted the weather based upon their migration patterns.
Pterodactyls have extremely fragile wings.
They would easily be damaged in high winds. Consequently, they were often seen fleeing prior to bad weather coming off of the Atlantic. Americans knew these creatures even existed, let alone had reached near extinction.