Hatzegopteryx

## HatzegopteryxHațeg Basin Wing

* Male
* Courting Male
* Female

* **Skull Length** of 1.6 - 2.5 meters (5 feet, 3 inches - 8 feet, 3 inches)
* **Neck Length** of 1.5 meters (5 feet)
* Exhibits insular gigantism
* Has tough bones with a Styrofoam-like structure

 **Main** Segments Gallery

MainSegmentsGallery

***“ He is 15 feet tall, with a wingspan of over 30 feet. Hatzegopteryx are Europe's top predators. But this male has come here to reveal another side to his character... ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Islands*
***Hatzegopteryx*** (Hațeg Basin Wing) is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur that served as the apex predator of Hațeg Island, an area which would eventually become a basin within modern-day Romania, 66 million years ago, during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period.

While *Hatzegopteryx* is only known from Hațeg Island, similar azhdarchid remains found all over Europe imply that, just as Prehistoric Planet depicted, *Hatzegopteryx* may have had a bigger range than initially believed. If these remains are proven to be those of *Hatzegopteryx*, this would mean that, alongside some abelisaurids (like possible descendants of the medium-sized majungasaurine *Arcovenator*, which lived at least eight million years before *Hatzegopteryx*), this robust azhdarchid can indeed be considered one of the most formidable and most successful predators of Maastrichtian Europe.

## Paleobiology

### Height

***“ Hatzegopteryx stands 15 feet tall. It is in fact, a pterosaur, a reptile with wings that, here, as it stalks through the trees, it has to keep tightly folded. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Forests*
*Hatzegopteryx* was one of the largest pterosaurs to ever live. As stated on the show and by paleontologist Dr. Mark P. Witton, like most azhdarchids, it was "the size of a giraffe". Originally estimated to be 5.5 meters (18 feet) tall, later studies have revealed that the length of its neck was around 50 - 60% that of other azhdarchids of similar size. Hence, in both Forests and Islands, the show states that *Hatzegopteryx* stands "15 feet (4.6 meters) tall". Although it is not the tallest azhdarchid, it is still a towering, imposing figure.

### Wingspan and Weight

***“ This is the heaviest animal ever to fly, and there is nowhere else here where it could open its gigantic wings, which are over 30 feet across. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Forests*
As per a recent, 2017 study by Dr. Mark Witton and Dr. Darren Naish, two of the experts who worked on Prehistoric Planet (with the latter serving as the show's lead consultant), the *FGGUB R1083* and *EME 315* *Hatzegopteryx* fossils support the current understanding of pterosaur upper size limits in that they likely conform "to approximate size predictions for the *Hatzegopteryx* holotype," fitting the estimated maximum wingspan of 10 - 12 meters (33 - 40 feet). Prehistoric Planet also gives out an estimate of "over 30 feet (9 meters)". Despite its great size, *Hatzegopteryx* only weighed around 225 - 250 kilograms (500 - 550 pounds), which is around a quarter of a giraffe's weight. Even so, it is stated to be "the heaviest animal ever to fly." Unlike its relatives, which had hollow bones, *Hatzegopteryx* had bones with a spongy internal structure akin to Styrofoam, granting it increased toughness while allowing the animal to still be lightweight enough to fly.

### Physique

***“ Hatzegopteryx, giant predatory pterosaurs. The best chance of escape is beneath the canopy of the taller trees. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Islands*
Despite not being as tall as other azhdarchids like *Quetzalcoatlus*, *Hatzegopteryx* is the most robust of them all. At 1.5 meters (5 feet), its neck is around half the length of azhdarchids with comparable wingspans, but is also thicker and more heavily-muscled, able to withstand strong bending forces. Its skull, deep and blunt (as opposed to the more slender and spear-like beaks of other azhdarchids), is around 2.5 meters (8 feet, 3 inches) in length, making it one of the largest skulls of any non-marine animal. However, in 2018, Mátyás Vremir concluded that *Hatzegopteryx* had a skull shorter than those of other azhdarchids, around only 1.6 meters (5 feet, 3 inches) long (though these same calculations also resulted in a shorter, less-accepted wingspan estimate of 8 meters, or 26 feet). Regardless, the skull of *Hatzegopteryx* has a broad rear, large ridges that serve as strong muscular attachments, and an overall stronger construction, making the animal powerful enough to tackle and bash prey too big to swallow whole. The still-unnamed azhdarchid from Mongolia, though only known from a few neck vertebrae, is believed to share similarly-robust proportions as *Hatzegopteryx*, implying that they may be closely-related, or at least evolved under similar yet different conditions that resulted in more robust body builds.

While this muscular physique makes *Hatzegopteryxes* very powerful and formidable indeed, their bulk can also be used against them. In Islands, while being pursued by some of the azhdarchids, a *Tethyshadros* herd retreated for a forest where the trees were too tightly-packed for the pterosaurs to fit through.

### Sounds

As with its relative *Quetzalcoatlus*, *Hatzegopteryx* is depicted on the show communicating by means of crocodile-like hisses, guttural, throaty sounds, beak clacking and clattering, and bellows like those of a moose or foghorn, since, according to Dr. Darren Naish, azhdarchids more likely made deep, airy, booming sounds as opposed to stereotypical shrieks and screams. Fittingly, given its stockier physique, the bellows of *Hatzegopteryx* are deeper and lower in pitch compared to the bellows of *Quetzalcoatlus*.

### Prehistoric Planet's Depiction

*Main: *Hatzegopteryx* on Prehistoric Planet*

Main: *Hatzegopteryx* on Prehistoric Planet

Prehistoric Planet depicts *Hatzegopteryx* with a thick, fluffy pycnofiber coat that is mostly dirty white and yellowish, streaked with chocolate brown and black stripes, with a short, tassel-like tuft for a tail. They are depicted with big blue irises that blend well with their big pupils, as opposed to the other azhdarchids in the series (which either have light or no discernible irises at all, making their eyes appear to have prominent pin-prick pupils). The males have a massive but thin, blade-like crest with a corrugated texture, mostly yellow, but with the more forward portions fading to a reddish-brown tone, while females only have a low, yellow ridge running across their heads. The old male *Hatzegopteryx* seen on Islands is mostly dirty white and gray save for his fully-brown neck (perhaps an indication of his greater age). He also sports a crest with more vibrant colors, with a bright yellow outer edge and beak tip, dark blue back edge, and a paler (but still vibrant) shade of blue across the inside of the beak, behind the bright yellow edge. The center of the crest remains white, but there is now also a dark brown spot on it, making the crest resemble a butterfly wing.

***“ Now, his wings will carry him to yet another forest where life proliferates more variously and more abundantly than anywhere else on our Prehistoric Planet. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Forests*
*Hatzegopteryx* appears during the seventh, last segment of Forests, where a male swallows up a *Zalmoxes*, makes his way to the beach of Hațeg Island, and, after grooming itself for a while, takes off for another island. The second segment of Islands showcases their status as apex predator by depicting them visiting an island in southern Europe, terrorizing a herd of *Tethyshadros*. Finally, *Hatzegopteryx* appears in the sixth, final segment of Islands, where a male with a brightly-colored crest impresses a female, showing the other, more tender side of Hațeg Island's supreme hunters. Footage of *Hatzegopteryx* walking between the tightly-packed trees of Hațeg Island in Forests is also briefly used in the Prehistoric Planet: Uncovered segment "Flamboyant Flyers" (which is mostly focused on *Barbaridactylus*) and, along with fellow azhdarchid *Quetzalcoatlus*, serves as the main focus of the Prehistoric Planet: Uncovered segment "Could Giant Pterosaurs Really Hunt on the Ground?", which discusses the hunting preferences of azhdarchids and, based on evidence, concludes that they were well-suited for stalking and even pursuing prey on the ground.

## Paleoecology

### Paleoenvironment

*Main: Hațeg Island*

Main: Hațeg Island

***“ Next on Prehistoric Planet, a flying giant the size of a giraffe hunts its prey among the tangled trees of a prehistoric forest. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Ice Worlds*
During the time of *Hatzegopteryx*, 66 million years ago, most of Europe was a series of islands scattered across the prehistoric Tethys Ocean. Hațeg Island, which would one day become a town in Hunedoara County, Romania, was 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the nearest landmass, and is estimated to be 80,000 square kilometers (31,000 square miles) worth of tropical woodland, sustained by braided rivers, lakes, and seasonal monsoons.

***“ Hunters like T. rex have never reached this little island, so it should be a safe place for a mother to raise her brood... but not necessarily. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Islands*
While current evidence doesn't prove their existence outside of what would become modern-day Romania, due to their flight capabilities, it was possible that *Hatzegopteryx* may not be confined to just Hațeg Island, with the remains of similar animals being found all over Europe. In Islands, a flock of four males and three females swooped down on the Liburnia Formation (which represents an island that would eventually become modern-day Trieste, Italy), sending an entire *Tethyshadros* herd into panic just with the mere sight of them.

### Paleofauna

***“ This forest, so rich in small creatures, is one of its regular hunting grounds. It stands on the southernmost edge of Europe. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Forests*
Resources on islands tend to be limited, and Hațeg Island is no exception. Due to this, most of the inhabitants of Hațeg Island like *Telmatosaurus* grew smaller due to an evolutionary process known as insular dwarfism, allowing them to survive on less food, require less territory, and, in theory, be less-susceptible to changing conditions (though it appears that others, like *Zalmoxes*, were already small to begin with, having simply inherited their diminutive size from their ancestors). Conversely, due to the absence of massive theropods or other large predators and the great availability of animals that are now easier to prey on due to their smaller size, *Hatzegopteryx*, through insular gigantism, evolved to become the largest carnivore of Hațeg Island, and one of the most robust of the azhdarchids. The biological phenomenon of insular gigantism is also seen in *Imperobator* of Antarctica and the Haast's Eagles of New Zealand (the largest eagles to ever exist). Because of their large size, with their robust physique enabling them to bash prey too big to swallow whole, *Hatzegopteryx* can attack even the next-largest animals of the island, the horse-sized dwarf titanosaurs like *Magyarosaurus*, *Paludititan*, and possible relatives of theirs.

### Flight Capabilities

As with all pterosaurs, *Hatzegopteryx* took off from the ground by means distinct from those of birds. To fly, birds jump off with their two legs, and some even need to run in order to take off. Pterosaurs, on the other hand, relied on the "quadrupedal launch" technique, as suggested by Dr. Mark Witton and Dr. Michael Habib, two of the experts who worked on Prehistoric Planet. With their muscular forelimbs and pectoral muscles, they are able to catapult their lightweight bodies into the air and achieve lift. Due to their more energy-efficient means of taking flight, the pterosaurs weren't restricted to the same body size and form limitations as birds, allowing them to achieve massive body sizes, with their flight muscles being 50 kilograms (110 pounds), making up 20 - 25% of the total body mass of the largest azhdarchids. One common misconception is that the different atmospheric conditions of the Mesozoic Era allowed pterosaurs to stay aloft better, though Dr. Darren Naish, Prehistoric Planet's lead consultant, clarified that pterosaurs only relied on their own power to achieve lift, and would be able to fly just fine even in environments like those of the modern day.

With their ability to fly from island to island, *Hatzegopteryx* is able to expand its options and visit any new hunting grounds within reach. Fossils of similar animals found even as far west as France and Spain indicate that *Hatzegopteryx* (or, at least, its close relatives) dominated several of the various island archipelagos of Late Cretaceous Europe, indicating that the species had a wide hunting range.

### Hunting Tactics and Feeding Preferences

As the apex predator of Hațeg Island, *Hatzegopteryx* is an ominous threat to most of the other animals it comes across. Their large size also means that none of the other animals in their ecosystem can really challenge or harm them when fully-grown, leaving them free to move around and do whatever they please, with the male in the Forests episode casually walking through a forest after swallowing a *Zalmoxes* as a quick snack, spreading his wings to warm them under the sun's rays before flying off to another island.

*Hatzegopteryx* is mostly shown quickly grabbing prey within reach. This is known as "raptorial behavior" (derived from "raptor", the Latin term for "thief", which was in turn derived from "rapio", Latin for "to seize"). Most predators attack and capture prey in this way. However, some are more specialized in doing so compared to others. Some rely on powerful limbs and claws, as demonstrated by birds of prey (fittingly known as "raptors"), most non-avian theropods (most especially dromaeosaurs, commonly but incorrectly called "raptors" due to the fact that several members of the family have the term in their name), praying mantises, scorpions, and other similar animals. Others, like crocodiles and the aptly-named macroraptorial sperm whales like *Livyatan melvillei*, rely on sharp teeth that dig into prey and prevent their escape, coupled with a long snout and jaws with powerful muscles. Since pterosaurs lack hands, feet, or claws that are suited for grabbing, they can only rely on their bills for the task, which could be a factor behind the evolution of their massive body sizes and long beaks.

As with most predators, *Hatzegopteryx* would prefer to conserve energy and go for the easiest and most convenient meal within reach. It would not pass up the opportunity to scavenge a dead animal, or, as demonstrated twice on Prehistoric Planet, grab small animals or juveniles that it can quickly swallow. However, to suit the fact that it lived alongside animals that shrunk due to insular dwarfism, *Hatzegopteryx* traded off some of its range for strength, explaining its shorter but overall more robust features which gave it the capability to attack and bring down even animals too big to swallow whole. For this reason, even adult *Tethyshadros*, cow-sized hadrosaurs that are three times the weight of the giraffe-sized *Hatzegopteryx*, prefer to flee from them rather than attempt to fight them off.

***“ Hatzegopteryx are very intelligent pterosaurs. Now that the element of surprise is gone, they change tactics. Spreading out across the clearing, they try to flush out any prey that might still be there. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Islands*
*Hatzegopteryx* also demonstrated a degree of predatory cunning. Upon hearing one *Tethyshadros* try to call out to her children, they realized that there may still be prey left in the open fields (though they would have likely still checked the clearing for prey even without this clue), and thus spread out across the area to flush them out. As with many predators, they tend to be greedy when it comes to prey they caught, as a female *Hatzegopteryx* tries to take a dead *Tethyshadros* from a male, who turns away and swallows his catch so the female cannot have a piece of it. Even so, given the meager amount of prey they successfully caught, the *Hatzegopteryxes* agreed on the decision to fly off the island and try their luck elsewhere.

### Mating Habits

While the full extent of sexual dimorphism is unknown in *Hatzegopteryx* itself, sexual dimorphism is apparent in many other pterosaurs, and Dr. Darren Naish, lead consultant of Prehistoric Planet, brings up how, not only is sexual dimorphism the logical conclusion for azhdarchoids, but also that melanosomes in azhdarchoid crests serve as further proof of their use as display structures, hence, the old male *Hatzegopteryx* with its special breeding season coloration is not unusual given how this can also be seen in living animals like lizards and birds.

***“ On a small island, a monumental display takes place as the giant Hatzegopteryx reveals his gentler side to woo a mate. ”***

― The official Apple TV+ episode synopsis for *Islands*
As for their mating habits, the *Hatzegopteryx* males put on a show for the females to display their strength, establish trust, and prove themselves as worthy of passing down their genes to the female's offspring. They do this with a ceremonial nest, a nuptial gift (slain prey offered by an animal to a partner before mating) that serves as a testament of their hunting prowess and power, guttural songs, and synchronized dances that can involve both the male and female intimately clattering their beaks against each other. Winning direct confrontations against potential rivals can also help further demonstrate which male is the right choice for the females to mate with.

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## References

### General

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Giant azhdarchid pterosaurs from the terminal Cretaceous of Transylvania (western Romania)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Based on a partial azhdarchid mandible found in 2018 in the Hațeg Basin, Romania
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 A new giant pterosaur with a robust skull from the latest Cretaceous of Romania
4. ↑ Gigantic pterosaurian remains from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia
5. ↑ Comparative evidence for quadrupedal launch in pterosaurs
6. ↑ Did giant pterosaurs vault aloft like vampire bats?

### Dr. Darren Naish

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 *Hatzegopteryx* was likely an island-hopping pterosaur, an idea backed up by the remains of similar azhdarchids found across Europe.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 *Hatzegopteryx* had a wingspan of around 10 meters (33 feet) and weighed around 225 kilograms (500 pounds).
3. ↑ A lot went into the portrayal of the launching dynamics, sounds, and combat style of Prehistoric Planet's azhdarchids.
4. ↑ The pterosaurs of Prehistoric Planet are depicted making deep drumming or booming sounds based on analogy with living archosaurs.
5. ↑ It's been suggested that *Zalmoxes* was shrunken by island dwarfism, though it is possible that it simply inherited its small size from its ancestors.
6. ↑ Pterosaurs breathed in bird-like fashion and had inflatable air sacs in their wings
7. ↑ Sexual dimorphism is inferred for azhdarchoids, and melanosomes on azhdarchoid crests indicate how colorful they were, further supporting their role in sexual display.

### Dr. Mark Witton

1. ↑ Why pterosaurs weren't so scary after all

### Dr. Mark Witton and Dr. Darren Naish

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Neck biomechanics indicate that giant Transylvanian azhdarchid pterosaurs were short-necked arch predators
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Azhdarchid pterosaurs: water-trawling pelican mimics or "terrestrial stalkers"?

### Prehistoric Planet

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 As stated in Forests.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 As stated in Islands.