Quetzalcoatlus

Named after the‭ ‘‬feathered serpent‭’ ‬god of Mesoamerica,‭ ‬Quetzalcoatlus has really soared to the top among popular pterosaurs.‭ ‬When first discovered it was thought to have had a fifteen meter wingspan but further studies have reduced this estimate to eleven meters,‭ ‬although that‭’‬s still huge for a pterosaur.‭ ‬Another revision was the beak in that it has been learned that it terminated in a sharp point as opposed to the original blunt edge.
 How Quetzalcoatlus fed is open to much debate. ‭ ‬Initially it was thought to be a scavenger,‭ ‬but the beak is not suited to the task of stripping flesh from a carcass as the beak did not close completely.‭ ‬The replacement hypothesis was that it skimmed across bodies of water,‭ ‬snatching fish out of the water with its beak as it flew overhead.‭ ‬Although plausible,‭ ‬when the theory was applied to a creature the size of Quetzalcoatlus it was found that it would be too far too much energy expenditure for it to be a 
viable method of feeding.‭
  A more likely scenario accepted now is that Quetzalcoatlus had a lifestyle similar to that of a stork,‭ ‬perhaps stalking small prey items like lizards and mammals in vegetative growth on the ground,‭ ‬or sitting at the edges of streams and rivers snatching fish and amphibians as they swam by.‭ ‬Such feeding strategies would require very little energy expenditure,‭ ‬making it easier for Quetzalcoatlus to maintain the calorie intake to fuel its body. 
File:Quetzalcoatlus p1.jpg|Quetzalcoatlus Body
File:Quetzalcoatlus p2.jpg|Quetzalcoatlus Eyes
File:Quetzalcoatlus p3.jpg|Quetzalcoatlus (Incorrectly having teeth)
File:Quetzalcoatlus p4.jpg|Quetzalcoatlus Wing
Category:Reptiles
Category:Extinct Animals