Also with big therapods, we should keep in mind that Azhdarchids are not only fairly dangerous but also fairly low value targets. Which do you hunt, stringy McDeathstork or a small hadrosaur or something with 3 times the meat but 1/10th the threat level?
Yeah, a theropod could probably kill one, but it might get it’s eyes pecked out in the process. Especially since a Theropod’s primary weapon are it’s jaws. It has to get it’s face close to and passed what is basically a spear in order to get close enough to bite any part of an Azhdarchid.
Sea Lions actually have to be careful when hunting Penguins on land, since if a penguin has a slight positional advantage (like, it's above the sea lion or has some rocks between itself and the sea lion) it can stand it's ground and the threat of getting it's eyes pecked can keep the sea lion at a relatively safe distance. Then, either the penguin tries to turn and leave and gets pursued or the Sea Lion tries to go after a different penguin.
And while they hinted at it but never came out and said it. It seems very much like an animal that would stand at the waters edge and use its long neck and beak to catch marine animals in the water. If a giraffe can use its longneck to reach the top trees why can’t this animal with a long neck reach down into the water to get food??? It frustrated me too they talk and talk and talk and then skate right over the main point!
@@bobcranberries5853 Their long necks were very rigid, not at all like the flexible necks of herons which enable the head to be launched like a spear in a straight line towards the prey. Azhdarchids would have had to swing their heads down like axes!
In this case, the skating was to lay out the history of ideas around the animal. This gives insight not only into the fossil, but also into the people.
their nexts are extremely stiff so tis not surprising;y. the beat and head seemed the right shape but the neck was not flexible to any degree. its surprising such a species could even exist.
Not sure if it's worth the effort, but would u guys consider doing a speculative evolution of adhzarchids if the KT Mass Extinction event had not happened?
@@BenGThomas I've seen a few people trying to do the same thing. Some speculations where very interesting like how Azhdarchids were spending so much time on the ground they eventually lost their wings and became runners
@@magnuspeacock5857 I don't see that as a major issue, as it has been overcome by many flightless birds that we know of; the bones get thicker, the feathers become for insulation rather than flight, etc. If they already fed on the ground, in evolutionary terms the only reason they had to fly (which is very expensive in calorific and evolutionary terms) was to find new feeding grounds, and maybe escape predators, though I am dubious about whether or not they could take to the skies quickly enough. So yea, I think they could have lost the ability to fly, in an environment where predation was not an issue and/or food was readily available within walking distance.
I love the artstyle of modern late-dinosaur type animals like shown in the video. Those sleek half-bird half-reptile drawings are so cool, they got me quackin. More videos about early birds!
I'm so used to realistic dinosaurs that when I see a scaly velociraptor or pterosaur even in kid books I unconsciously go "ewwww" They look diseased without feathers
I love that one of the difficulties of studying azhdarchid pterosaurs is that they are so enormous that transcontinental flight range is reasonable, making figuring out if a new find is a new giant death stork or a known one that flew a long way from where the first one was found difficult.
I know, right?! They argue about the feeding habits while I still cannot comprehend how evolution justifies that tiny torso with the huge... well, everything else?
Easily the best paleo channel on the platform I simply cannot string together enough words to effectively express how much I admire and respect the time and effort you put into making these information packed videos. Your content is very much appreciated.
They would’ve been hunted to extinction by man as soon as we invented bows, as no kingdom would want giant demon storks taking their livestock/family. If they nearly wiped out wolves, why wouldn’t humans do it to killer death bois
For me, of all the creatures of the past, the pterosaurs are the most alien. When we look at the bones of other animals, how they fed and behaved usually seems quite obvious. We may argue about the details of what a T-Rex and ate and how it may have hunted, but the fact that it was carnivorous and a awesome predator is apparent. But, with pterosaurs, we are often at a loss. Ok, it has a mouth - therefore it ate. But, what did it eat? and How did it eat it? Where did it hunt? In water? On land? On mudflats? upland areas? Islands? We have mostly questions, and uncertain speculation. So different are they, that I think they deserve their own class, and not be included in Reptilia. They are most fascinating.
Yep. Also they evolved for 250 million years, theres time for divercity to fill every locker. They might have been better fliers than birds, and propably were as birds have evolved just a fraction of that time.
I watched this last night and, as with all your videos, I was entranced and astounded not just by the animals but also by the amount of time and research it must take you to make one. However, during the night I had a fantastic dream. I was riding an Azhdarchid and soaring far above the earth. Then a little single-engine plane was sighted off to one side. I asked my mount to check it out and he did, only to find that he was about 1 1/2 times the size of the plane both in width and length. While I was marveling at this I woke up. So I want to thank you for a most amazing and uplifting (sorry) experience.
Silviu Gligor They’re pretty fascinating. Due to the peculiarities of the local geography, they’re massively muscular necks & heads & the insular dwarfism that was amongst the local herbivores at the time it’s been speculated that they were Transylvania’s apex predators at the time. Kinda makes Dracula look like a pussy, really...
Whelp, this is the video I stop on. I’ve been binge watching every video in chronological order since the first one over the last few weeks and now just have to wait till their published. Love the content
Just found your channel & OMG i'm in love 😍 I love animals & actually wanted to be a paleontologist when I was a kid sadly things happened in my life that took me on another path but still really love dinosaurs, never a dull moment when learning more about them.
When I was a kid I thought the idea of the huge pterosaurs being scavengers kind of ridiculous and for them to be agile predators even more ridiculous but thought it would make sense for them to hunt in a similar way to cranes or pelicans or even the birds that use their wings in order to cast a shadow over the water to lure fish out so they could gobble up the fish with relative ease. They would need quite a large amount of energy to power their large bodies and fish provides a good source of protein, fat, vitamins, essential amino acids, calcium and calories, if they ate at least a dozen or so every few hours it would give them enough energy to fly around until their next meal. With their size it would make sense that they would be hunting by lakes, creeks, rivers or by the beach because they would need enough room to safely land or take off, they would need an adequate amount of wind current to help them take off and to keep an eye out on advantageous predators that prey on anything near an open water source. I used to watch Walking With Dinosaurs when I was a kid and found the episode they done on the Quetzalcoatlus quite interesting but found it a little suss that they thought the huge pterosaur would hunt for fish while flying over the water, their beaks and skulls aren't made for that type of hunting.
@@bkjeong4302 I realised that when I was a kid.Not aquatic, too heavy and beaks were not adapted for aquatic hunting like other smaller members of the pterosaur family tree.
@@bkjeong4302 giraffes don't climb trees to grab the tastiest foliage either though, so there's that point. Azharchids needed an extended neck, so it was selected for. it did not aid flight; a short neck is preferable, so itwas unrelated to enhancing flight. therefore, it must have been used in feeding inaccessible places to it without the neck. was it really stiff as to be immobile? unsure but many think that is the case. probable that it plucked small prey from trees, IMO, but there can be the case of shoreline prey that does not take a lot of energy or movement to grab, like crabs and washed ashore jellifishes, etc. the arms were strong and shoulder bones reinforced. strong and mobile from there, so it could possibly lower itself so the beak could reach the ground
Flying giraffes from hell, imagine looking up at the sky and seeing this thing (or actual flying giraffe) soaring over head. I’m not sure wether I should terrified, curious, or amazed, or pass out from the heart attack it gave me.
So probably marshes and wetlands where food is plentiful, most predators are not terrestrial and there is little brush to get in the way of flying. This could also explain why they grew so tall as they could not only spot for prey over small shrubs but also the occasional predator
I really like Sunday afternoon. I can get caught up on Mr, Thomas and all the different animals I wanted to study but couldn't. Thank you so much Mr. Thomas, cause it's NEVER too late to LEARN!
Azhdarchids are probably the most mind boggling of all prehistoric creatures, arguably being the only group of flying megafauna to have ever existed, and quite possibly being the last given what currently exists. A niche that has only been taken twice ish in the 400 million years of terrestrial life, birds like Argentavis sorta got there, I can only hope something in the far future at least can come closer to something like these amazing creatures.
@@robokill387 except it's not, there are hundreds and hundreds of documented sightings including military, police, professors and scientists, which one are you? And there are contemporaneous sightings in California right now in Kings valley. Being the "clever" sceptic is so 19th century, sit down and stfu
Just discovered your channel! I love learning about ancient biology and animal history. Well researched and well presented, subscribed! Quetzalcoatus is my favourite azhdarchid so I'm loving this three part series :)
5:50 I love this vulture-like colouring, it's a lot more how I imagine they really looked, probably a lot more mundane or uglier than the beautiful paintings.
Some of those designs make it hard to belive those animal were capable to fly I mean, look at those tiny wings compare to the side of the rest of the body 4:47
1:12 these are the ones at the Houston museum of natural science I got to see them in person and totally geeked out about it. quetzalcoatlus is my absolute favorite land dinosaur 🦒🦜
This makes me wonder if Azhdarchids could have lived outside their known habitats and survive, or if one could have evolved to do so. They certainly have the flight capabilities for it. Also I love the term "death sorks", pretty fitting haha
My only issue with the stork thing is that azhdarchids didn't have flexible necks, or according to this, fast bites. I don't know how quickly they could move their necks up and down, but if it was similar to a giraffe's "neck speed" like I've sometimes heard then catching small, quick, bite-sized prey would've been difficult. Storks can do a kind of S-curve strike to catch prey off guard but I imagine azhdarchids couldn't do that. The only method I can think of that seems reasonable would be to pin down prey with their hands first, making a slow bite and slow neck a moot point.
There is a reason giraffe necks don't move quickly: even with super-high blood pressure and specialized valves in their blood vessels, too fast movements would mess with blood supply to the brain. But possibly that wouldn't apply with the same force to azhdarchids since they couldn't raise their heads that high or need to bring them that low. The other problem I have, though, is flight related: achieving any kind of reasonable center of lift with that huge head and long stiff neck!
Given that azdarchids have long, incredibly pointed beaks, I'd imagine that they would reasonably often try to spear the prey, which would have the bonus of gruesomely injuring it while pinning it in place. This would make a slow and weak bite not much of a problem, and I'd imagine that the muscles connected to the first few vertebrae would allow for relatively quick turning of the head even as the rest of the neck was slower.
Melvin Shine I think you’re taking the stork analogy too literally. It’s more likely they fed on small to medium-sized terrestrial prey then aquatic prey.
Fun fact the Quetzalcoatlus was about as tall as the T-Rex. So imagine how bigger and intimidating it would’ve looked if it expanded both its wings at an attacker.
One issue doesn't seem to have been addressed - Big animals with birdlike metabolisms require a lot of protein. They would need to have been close to a reliable source of foods. A hit and miss feeding method wouldn't have been much use to them. It makes sense that they'd be generalists, not tied to a single food source, able to scavenge to some extent, but not dependeint on random scraps. They'd be too big for their avian competitors, able to dominate feeding areas. Add a decent range of travel to food sources, and that may be the simplest definition.
I imagine that their sheer size would scare off smaller carnivores. Perhaps they also poached the kills of such predators opportunistically, securing larger meals through intimidation alone?
I'm getting into this stuff because of ark survival evolved lol. I've seen many youtubers who clearly don't care about the creatures that they are presenting and present theories as if they are fact. They also mostly take on that standard, youtuber, fake voice that makes me feel like I'm watching a commercial. Your videos are presented well, you clearly care about the subjects and you don't pretend that theories are fact just to "wow" your audience. Bravo, good job! Keep it professional and you'll go far. Those stupid youtubers are all fads and they are setting a horrible trend of spamming out videos on whatever is hot at the time. When I started looking into dinos on youtube because ark had me interested.. it quickly became clear that 99% of the videos were people riding the hype of the Jurassic park movie releases. Long winded, sorry but the state of media is really bad right now and you are one of the few people with enough integrity to help steer it in the right direction.
these giant prehistoric death storks aka Azhdarchids were probably omnivores. which means they ate pretty much everything, from live prey to carrion to some plant matter. very interesting video on ptersaurs and their kind.
Citing Miska Kopperoinen above: "All the heaviest flying animals right now are carnivores of some prescription and flying is energy intensive. Berries and fruits wouldn't really be a reliable option for animals the size of azdarchids and the relatively small torso wouldn't allow for a gut large enough to both process the tough-to-break plant matter and have enough of it in the gut to provide the animal enough energy to live."
So, my state, Oregon didn't have dinosaurs. We had marine reptiles as we were underwater at the time (with some islands in the north east part of the state). And I don't know if we ever found any Azdarchids. But to counter that, we have join parts of T-rex here. But I believe it was a toe bone and it 'drifted' here. I dont remember the term for when a fossil is found in a place that it shouldn't be in.
perusual i would suggest we keep in mind that dueing this time period , 90%+ of the animal community were nest building/digging egg layers. every hatching cycle there were hundreds if not thousands of babies pouring from nests. Azhdarchids are clearly built for soaring for long distances as well as picking up fairly simple food. their physical limitations in the head would mean there wasnt much complexity of movement to get what they ate. that means they either ate inannimate objects like fruit and seeds, or they ate prey they found it difficult to get away. They would be convergent with storks but without the need for quick ambush pecking, since their prey was slow moving and easy to catch.
Those hornbill birds you mentioned they always follow me around and try to give me toys and rats and stuff they're super fun very curious and intelligent
Also I would like to see a real quetzalcoatlus but it would probably be terrifying mostly because it's a reptile probably doesn't have a lot of intelligence more driven by instinct and probably no feelings like loneliness or sadness or happiness, just the blank stare of death
How could they fly? I recall a sci-fi story (author forgotten) about flying whales in a pre-historic Earth. The explanation given was that sea levels were very much lower than today, meaning that the atmospheric pressure at s.l. was considerably more buoyant, capable of supporting heavier fliers with richer oxygenation to better sustain flight.
It was believed back then, that except for pteranodons, the pterosaurs were of pretty moderate size, never exceeding that of modern hawks and falcons. The pterosaur they found in 1975 was of the size of an average jet fighter. It was truly amazing.
Their size surely helped them glide over large distance like modern Albatross that can get a wingspan of nearly 4m, using recurrent sea wind to cover large areas using as less energy as possible. Their beak could implies that they were filter feeders, as the increased size of said beak would result in a greater amount of water being filtered at once while not requiring it to be rigid since microscopic lifeforms hardly give up much of a fight. Their tallness could help them wander shallow waters with ease, like coastal waters or inland lakes. Like picture a Quetzal doing a fly-over to check if the area is safe, then landing by the water and taking a stroll into the shallows depths, sliding their tilted head left to right (or vice versa) on the surface as to pick up anything floating on the surface, pushing out the excess water. Kind of like a Flamingo, but less efficient due to lack of beak curvature hence why they evolved into greater beak size which correlated into bigger body size and it would give them ample energy to do so since filter feeding is one of the most efficient way for animals to feed, in term of energy gains to energy expenditure.
Having a pelican-like throat pouch could benefit a giant terrestrial stork without skim feeding; modern day storks and herons prey on small, and mostly soft-bodied organisms like frogs and fish. A hard bill is all they need. But a much larger terrestrial stalker would be eating much tougher and heavier animals, so being able to crush/smother prey in the throat before swallowing could have been a helpful adaptation.
I have to point this out: Quetzalcoatlus... since the name comes from the nahuatl language, the correct pronounciation is "keht-sal-coatlus", not "coo-eht-za-coatlus". The root of the name comes from Quetzalcoatl (which in turns means "feathered serpent") a major god in the Aztec pantheon. Also, great video, thanks for not letting us wait for like 10 years for part 3!!
Even granting the almost magical weight to size ratio claim in Witton's new paper, Azhdarchids power requirements for takeoff would mean they need a power to weight ratio greater than 2x any living flying animal in order to just become airborne. This would mean claiming that Azhdarchids can somehow generate twice the power of extreme birds like the condor or giant bats that already cannot take-off under their own power from flat ground.
All the heaviest flying animals right now are carnivores of some prescription and flying is energy intensive. Berries and fruits wouldn't really be a reliable option for animals the size of azdarchids and the relatively small torso wouldn't allow for a gut large enough to both process the tough-to-break plant matter and have enough of it in the gut to provide the animal enough energy to live.
My feeling is that when you're that big, 1) you can eat anything you darn well choose to eat, and 2) your mouth is so big, you end up eating any-and-everything that happened to be within as specific radius of your intended target.
Wait a minute... a third part was released WITHOUT A THREE YEAR GAP! What is this witchcraft?!
15 questions science can not answer
Nice, now nobody like!
Surprise! :D
@@BenGThomas Amazing Video!
This is beyond science
Also with big therapods, we should keep in mind that Azhdarchids are not only fairly dangerous but also fairly low value targets. Which do you hunt, stringy McDeathstork or a small hadrosaur or something with 3 times the meat but 1/10th the threat level?
Yeah, a theropod could probably kill one, but it might get it’s eyes pecked out in the process.
Especially since a Theropod’s primary weapon are it’s jaws. It has to get it’s face close to and passed what is basically a spear in order to get close enough to bite any part of an Azhdarchid.
Stringy McDeathstork
Sea Lions actually have to be careful when hunting Penguins on land, since if a penguin has a slight positional advantage (like, it's above the sea lion or has some rocks between itself and the sea lion) it can stand it's ground and the threat of getting it's eyes pecked can keep the sea lion at a relatively safe distance. Then, either the penguin tries to turn and leave and gets pursued or the Sea Lion tries to go after a different penguin.
Stringy McDeathstork is my new favourite pterosaur name! 🤣👍
Maybe the giant death stork if it's asleep or injured...
“Giant Prehistoric Death Storks”. What a menagerie of words XD
Prehistoric Flying Hell Giraffes.
Actually that would be a great metal band name lol.
@@evanocualain Er no, I wrote that myself and never saw any of those comments.
Flying hell giraffes
That would have been another good title...
Damn can you imagine if giraffes had beaks and wings 😱
Hell giraffes indeed!
You'd have to live with your head on a swivel.
...that's a great name for a metal band
MAKE A SHOEBILL VIDEO
Man, those three years went by fast.
that would probably be accounting 'done' by those that stole from us rather than borrowed in most probabilities probable
Yep
Thank you so much for having shared my scientific illustration at the end of this video, I really appreciate it. Anyway, as always, great video!
I love the intricate pen work on the scales. Amazing 👏
You are incredible!!! Thanks for your contributions to science ❤
Azdarchids straight up look like massive Maribou Storks and yet it took everyone this long to realize they preyed on small animals.
And while they hinted at it but never came out and said it. It seems very much like an animal that would stand at the waters edge and use its long neck and beak to catch marine animals in the water. If a giraffe can use its longneck to reach the top trees why can’t this animal with a long neck reach down into the water to get food??? It frustrated me too they talk and talk and talk and then skate right over the main point!
@@bobcranberries5853 Their long necks were very rigid, not at all like the flexible necks of herons which enable the head to be launched like a spear in a straight line towards the prey. Azhdarchids would have had to swing their heads down like axes!
In this case, the skating was to lay out the history of ideas around the animal. This gives insight not only into the fossil, but also into the people.
their nexts are extremely stiff so tis not surprising;y. the beat and head seemed the right shape but the neck was not flexible to any degree. its surprising such a species could even exist.
@@taddad2641 Moties' entire spine was just 3 long bones... :-)
Not sure if it's worth the effort, but would u guys consider doing a speculative evolution of adhzarchids if the KT Mass Extinction event had not happened?
Ooh, perhaps a part 4 is in order ;)
@@BenGThomas I've seen a few people trying to do the same thing. Some speculations where very interesting like how Azhdarchids were spending so much time on the ground they eventually lost their wings and became runners
Ben G Thomas yes and maybe they will be giant blue birds
@@Wooper160atThePond I don't see that happening when they where so light that almost any ground animal could badly injur it
@@magnuspeacock5857 I don't see that as a major issue, as it has been overcome by many flightless birds that we know of; the bones get thicker, the feathers become for insulation rather than flight, etc. If they already fed on the ground, in evolutionary terms the only reason they had to fly (which is very expensive in calorific and evolutionary terms) was to find new feeding grounds, and maybe escape predators, though I am dubious about whether or not they could take to the skies quickly enough. So yea, I think they could have lost the ability to fly, in an environment where predation was not an issue and/or food was readily available within walking distance.
I love the artstyle of modern late-dinosaur type animals like shown in the video. Those sleek half-bird half-reptile drawings are so cool, they got me quackin. More videos about early birds!
They got me quackin lmaoooo
Woah a part 3?! And not taking years for it to appear?!
I'm so excited!
"Giant Prehistoric Death Storks" is the best title of anything, ever in history.
Thumbnail looks like three guys arguing about directions
No, it's _that_ way!
..Can't unsee it now
or the two quetzalcoatlus arguing over who gets to take the first bite
Iain Mawhinney dont ruin it !🙄
Just another day in with the boys.
This Stork eats babies, before delivering!🤣
yup. they eat baby dinosaurs
We finally know what happened to the Neanderthals.
@@andrewgan557 didn't they have eggs, I thought that giant bunnies eat those!
@@uekiguy5886 yeah, we knew all along, but couldn't admit to ourselves!
Inbreeding!
@@pashapasovski5860 they do
im slowly getting used to seeing fuzzy pterosaurs and dinosaurs
And now im wondering what other changes will be found In my lifetime
Honestly fuzzy pterosaurs have been a thing for a very long time
I know, im still getting use to the fact that titanasaurs didn't have elephant feet.
I'm so used to realistic dinosaurs that when I see a scaly velociraptor or pterosaur even in kid books I unconsciously go "ewwww"
They look diseased without feathers
@@Rafael_Peixoto nowadays when I see it all I can think is, "people STILL think they looked like that?"
Fuck you Jurassic park
@@Rafael_Peixoto same lmaooo
Not once did you mention that you can build a small mobile base on their backs. (Ark)
Nightmare fuel of the past .
Giant demon birds of the great past roamed the land in search of lasagnasaurus
I’m sorry jon
HELL YEAH, it's here! The fluffy dragons of prehistory are back!
Pterosaurs would not only have been hard to catch, they would have had relatively little meat, because they had to remain so light.
I love that one of the difficulties of studying azhdarchid pterosaurs is that they are so enormous that transcontinental flight range is reasonable, making figuring out if a new find is a new giant death stork or a known one that flew a long way from where the first one was found difficult.
I still can't get over the ridiculouse size and proportion of these animals.
I know, right?! They argue about the feeding habits while I still cannot comprehend how evolution justifies that tiny torso with the huge... well, everything else?
At least we know Sir Mix-a-Lot is safe...
As my mother would say, "That's the way God made it."
Prehistoric death storks? I love that band!
Easily the best paleo channel on the platform
I simply cannot string together enough words to effectively express how much I admire and respect the time and effort you put into making these information packed videos. Your content is very much appreciated.
God your video titles like “death stork” “bunch of English dinosaurs” “heck cattle” “terror duck” never cease to make me laugh so hard my sides hurt
though this was 2022 for a second
Imagine these things still being alive today. It'd be like having herons that eat humans.
Andria Marie It’s about time we thin out the herd a little.
You mean it'd be like having "breathless dragons." That you can probably ride.
Can you imagine them just doing the scoop and tilt with their head and thats what does you in
@@cornholejackson225 Victim: Am I a joke to you?
Murderstork: Did someone say something?
They would’ve been hunted to extinction by man as soon as we invented bows, as no kingdom would want giant demon storks taking their livestock/family. If they nearly wiped out wolves, why wouldn’t humans do it to killer death bois
7:34 the "to scale" guy always seems so happy despite always being in mortal danger
🤣everytime
For me, of all the creatures of the past, the pterosaurs are the most alien.
When we look at the bones of other animals, how they fed and behaved usually seems quite obvious.
We may argue about the details of what a T-Rex and ate and how it may have hunted, but the fact that it was carnivorous and a awesome predator is apparent.
But, with pterosaurs, we are often at a loss. Ok, it has a mouth - therefore it ate. But, what did it eat? and How did it eat it? Where did it hunt? In water? On land? On mudflats? upland areas? Islands?
We have mostly questions, and uncertain speculation.
So different are they, that I think they deserve their own class, and not be included in Reptilia.
They are most fascinating.
Yep. Also they evolved for 250 million years, theres time for divercity to fill every locker. They might have been better fliers than birds, and propably were as birds have evolved just a fraction of that time.
I watched this last night and, as with all your videos, I was entranced and astounded not just by the animals but also by the amount of time and research it must take you to make one. However, during the night I had a fantastic dream. I was riding an Azhdarchid and soaring far above the earth. Then a little single-engine plane was sighted off to one side. I asked my mount to check it out and he did, only to find that he was about 1 1/2 times the size of the plane both in width and length. While I was marveling at this I woke up. So I want to thank you for a most amazing and uplifting (sorry) experience.
They were really really strange and almost alien like, that's what makes them so appealing.
One such giants was found in Romania , at Hatzeg , it's name is Hatzegopteryx
Silviu Gligor They’re pretty fascinating. Due to the peculiarities of the local geography, they’re massively muscular necks & heads & the insular dwarfism that was amongst the local herbivores at the time it’s been speculated that they were Transylvania’s apex predators at the time. Kinda makes Dracula look like a pussy, really...
What a fascinating coincidence!
Whelp, this is the video I stop on. I’ve been binge watching every video in chronological order since the first one over the last few weeks and now just have to wait till their published.
Love the content
Predatory dinosaur: Look at that...so vulnerable. Easy snack
Azhdarchid:
TRY ME (ÒVÓ)
Just found your channel & OMG i'm in love 😍 I love animals & actually wanted to be a paleontologist when I was a kid sadly things happened in my life that took me on another path but still really love dinosaurs, never a dull moment when learning more about them.
You are one of the best palaeontology RUclipsrs I watch as you show different examples and do not just talk about one!
When I was a kid I thought the idea of the huge pterosaurs being scavengers kind of ridiculous and for them to be agile predators even more ridiculous but thought it would make sense for them to hunt in a similar way to cranes or pelicans or even the birds that use their wings in order to cast a shadow over the water to lure fish out so they could gobble up the fish with relative ease.
They would need quite a large amount of energy to power their large bodies and fish provides a good source of protein, fat, vitamins, essential amino acids, calcium and calories, if they ate at least a dozen or so every few hours it would give them enough energy to fly around until their next meal.
With their size it would make sense that they would be hunting by lakes, creeks, rivers or by the beach because they would need enough room to safely land or take off, they would need an adequate amount of wind current to help them take off and to keep an eye out on advantageous predators that prey on anything near an open water source.
I used to watch Walking With Dinosaurs when I was a kid and found the episode they done on the Quetzalcoatlus quite interesting but found it a little suss that they thought the huge pterosaur would hunt for fish while flying over the water, their beaks and skulls aren't made for that type of hunting.
These guys would hunt on dry land rather than water-they didn’t have wading adaptations, unlike herons.
@@bkjeong4302 I realised that when I was a kid.Not aquatic, too heavy and beaks were not adapted for aquatic hunting like other smaller members of the pterosaur family tree.
nature tried a lot of weird designs, not all worked out in the long run, but it did have enough traits to be successful until the KT boundary
@@bkjeong4302 giraffes don't climb trees to grab the tastiest foliage either though, so there's that point.
Azharchids needed an extended neck, so it was selected for. it did not aid flight; a short neck is preferable, so itwas unrelated to enhancing flight. therefore, it must have been used in feeding inaccessible places to it without the neck. was it really stiff as to be immobile? unsure but many think that is the case. probable that it plucked small prey from trees, IMO, but there can be the case of shoreline prey that does not take a lot of energy or movement to grab, like crabs and washed ashore jellifishes, etc. the arms were strong and shoulder bones reinforced. strong and mobile from there, so it could possibly lower itself so the beak could reach the ground
@@pauls5745 Hatzegopteryx had a comparatively short (and very thicc) neck…
Thank for this well researched piece, your channel is a nice relief. It reminds when discovery channel was actually informative.
Thank you, Ben, for another very comprehensive and informative video. I do enjoy these, very much.
A giant walking bat with a spear in its face
Top 10 strangest anime characters
Flying giraffes from hell, imagine looking up at the sky and seeing this thing (or actual flying giraffe) soaring over head. I’m not sure wether I should terrified, curious, or amazed, or pass out from the heart attack it gave me.
Ah, flying giraffes. How terrifying.
that eat meat. dont forget that part
Flying Hell Giraffes.
It really do looked like a stork and bat had a big baby. Kinda terrifying xD
Thanks for your research was so good. Keep up the good work.
Great video! I personally agree with the generalist hypothesis for Azdarchids because their longs necks do seem to be analogous to that of storks.
So probably marshes and wetlands where food is plentiful, most predators are not terrestrial and there is little brush to get in the way of flying. This could also explain why they grew so tall as they could not only spot for prey over small shrubs but also the occasional predator
I really like Sunday afternoon. I can get caught up on Mr, Thomas and all the different animals I wanted to study but couldn't. Thank you so much Mr. Thomas, cause it's NEVER too late to LEARN!
So, in essence, these are the grand parents of Shoe Bill Storks.
Makes perfect sense to me.
Azhdarchids are probably the most mind boggling of all prehistoric creatures, arguably being the only group of flying megafauna to have ever existed, and quite possibly being the last given what currently exists. A niche that has only been taken twice ish in the 400 million years of terrestrial life, birds like Argentavis sorta got there, I can only hope something in the far future at least can come closer to something like these amazing creatures.
This is my favorite video you’ve made yet.
i'm surprised that it took them so long to get to the stork hypothesis. it seems such a good fit wheen you look at at the animal
These guys are so surreal. I think they're amazing. Can't wait to see these things for real.
We can only hope, although I don't know what we'd do with these things if we were to resurrect their species JP style.
They should have these in JW 3. Owen riding an azhdarchid would be awesome! Though it would bring up the question, could you ride one?
Live pterosaurs have allegedly been spotted down in South America
@@ibelieveicansoar no, they haven't, that rumor's being going around every few years since the 90s, it's a known hoax.
@@robokill387 except it's not, there are hundreds and hundreds of documented sightings including military, police, professors and scientists, which one are you?
And there are contemporaneous sightings in California right now in Kings valley. Being the "clever" sceptic is so 19th century, sit down and stfu
Just discovered your channel! I love learning about ancient biology and animal history. Well researched and well presented, subscribed! Quetzalcoatus is my favourite azhdarchid so I'm loving this three part series :)
This is what I pictured the Nazgul riding into the siege of Minas Tirith when I first read Return of the King.
That would have been better than those wyrm dragons
5:50 I love this vulture-like colouring, it's a lot more how I imagine they really looked, probably a lot more mundane or uglier than the beautiful paintings.
First the speculative zoology trilogy, now this!!!!! I love these trilogies
4:10 oh... SKIM-feeding animals.
Not skin-feeding.
It puts the lotion away, for now...
Some of those designs make it hard to belive those animal were capable to fly I mean, look at those tiny wings compare to the side of the rest of the body 4:47
thank you for finishing the series! it was really well done thank you!
As always, awesome work!
I wasn't so exited for a pre historic biology video for... forever, really awesome animals and videos
1:12 these are the ones at the Houston museum of natural science I got to see them in person and totally geeked out about it. quetzalcoatlus is my absolute favorite land dinosaur 🦒🦜
No it's not.
This was amazing !
Thank you for this serie.
one of the most brutal and metal titles on youtube 🤘
This makes me wonder if Azhdarchids could have lived outside their known habitats and survive, or if one could have evolved to do so. They certainly have the flight capabilities for it. Also I love the term "death sorks", pretty fitting haha
I love Mark Witton's work. He's also a great paleoartist.
Mark’s of my favorites, too!
thanks for releasing this!
What a great video and yes: I have learned a lot from it.
My only issue with the stork thing is that azhdarchids didn't have flexible necks, or according to this, fast bites. I don't know how quickly they could move their necks up and down, but if it was similar to a giraffe's "neck speed" like I've sometimes heard then catching small, quick, bite-sized prey would've been difficult. Storks can do a kind of S-curve strike to catch prey off guard but I imagine azhdarchids couldn't do that. The only method I can think of that seems reasonable would be to pin down prey with their hands first, making a slow bite and slow neck a moot point.
There is a reason giraffe necks don't move quickly: even with super-high blood pressure and specialized valves in their blood vessels, too fast movements would mess with blood supply to the brain. But possibly that wouldn't apply with the same force to azhdarchids since they couldn't raise their heads that high or need to bring them that low. The other problem I have, though, is flight related: achieving any kind of reasonable center of lift with that huge head and long stiff neck!
Given that azdarchids have long, incredibly pointed beaks, I'd imagine that they would reasonably often try to spear the prey, which would have the bonus of gruesomely injuring it while pinning it in place. This would make a slow and weak bite not much of a problem, and I'd imagine that the muscles connected to the first few vertebrae would allow for relatively quick turning of the head even as the rest of the neck was slower.
Melvin Shine I think you’re taking the stork analogy too literally. It’s more likely they fed on small to medium-sized terrestrial prey then aquatic prey.
Could be eating vegetables and fruit like a lot of birds now sometimes eat berries and fruit and picking seeds
Fun fact the Quetzalcoatlus was about as tall as the T-Rex. So imagine how bigger and intimidating it would’ve looked if it expanded both its wings at an attacker.
This channel is incredibly educational.
One issue doesn't seem to have been addressed - Big animals with birdlike metabolisms require a lot of protein. They would need to have been close to a reliable source of foods. A hit and miss feeding method wouldn't have been much use to them. It makes sense that they'd be generalists, not tied to a single food source, able to scavenge to some extent, but not dependeint on random scraps. They'd be too big for their avian competitors, able to dominate feeding areas. Add a decent range of travel to food sources, and that may be the simplest definition.
I imagine that their sheer size would scare off smaller carnivores. Perhaps they also poached the kills of such predators opportunistically, securing larger meals through intimidation alone?
Amazing, I didn't have to wait till I end college to watch the 3rd part of this amazing series
I'm getting into this stuff because of ark survival evolved lol. I've seen many youtubers who clearly don't care about the creatures that they are presenting and present theories as if they are fact. They also mostly take on that standard, youtuber, fake voice that makes me feel like I'm watching a commercial.
Your videos are presented well, you clearly care about the subjects and you don't pretend that theories are fact just to "wow" your audience. Bravo, good job! Keep it professional and you'll go far. Those stupid youtubers are all fads and they are setting a horrible trend of spamming out videos on whatever is hot at the time. When I started looking into dinos on youtube because ark had me interested.. it quickly became clear that 99% of the videos were people riding the hype of the Jurassic park movie releases.
Long winded, sorry but the state of media is really bad right now and you are one of the few people with enough integrity to help steer it in the right direction.
Fascinating! Cool-a-rama! I learned something too! Thanks Ben!
Another great and educational video
Love this series bro, thank you :)
these giant prehistoric death storks aka Azhdarchids were probably
omnivores. which means they ate pretty much everything, from live
prey to carrion to some plant matter. very interesting video on ptersaurs
and their kind.
Citing
Miska Kopperoinen above: "All the heaviest flying animals right now are carnivores of some prescription and flying is energy intensive. Berries and fruits wouldn't really be a reliable option for animals the size of azdarchids and the relatively small torso wouldn't allow for a gut large enough to both process the tough-to-break plant matter and have enough of it in the gut to provide the animal enough energy to live."
Gotta say, just stumbling on these 3 videos and reading the comments makes me super glad I didn't have to wait for years haha
Love all your vids keep making them
Ben right now: "HA! Told you this one wasn't going to take a year!!"
So, my state, Oregon didn't have dinosaurs. We had marine reptiles as we were underwater at the time (with some islands in the north east part of the state). And I don't know if we ever found any Azdarchids. But to counter that, we have join parts of T-rex here. But I believe it was a toe bone and it 'drifted' here. I dont remember the term for when a fossil is found in a place that it shouldn't be in.
perusual i would suggest we keep in mind that dueing this time period , 90%+ of the animal community were nest building/digging egg layers. every hatching cycle there were hundreds if not thousands of babies pouring from nests. Azhdarchids are clearly built for soaring for long distances as well as picking up fairly simple food. their physical limitations in the head would mean there wasnt much complexity of movement to get what they ate. that means they either ate inannimate objects like fruit and seeds, or they ate prey they found it difficult to get away. They would be convergent with storks but without the need for quick ambush pecking, since their prey was slow moving and easy to catch.
No offense to birds, but the wrong flying reptiles survived.
Great series.. Thanks for making it.
5:25 “This brings us to the most beastmode image of all time”
Those hornbill birds you mentioned they always follow me around and try to give me toys and rats and stuff they're super fun very curious and intelligent
Also I would like to see a real quetzalcoatlus but it would probably be terrifying mostly because it's a reptile probably doesn't have a lot of intelligence more driven by instinct and probably no feelings like loneliness or sadness or happiness, just the blank stare of death
Another great one guys. Sky's the limit!
Absolutely fascinating, what a great video 👍
These are really amazing creatures. I love them.
How could they fly? I recall a sci-fi story (author forgotten) about flying whales in a pre-historic Earth. The explanation given was that sea levels were very much lower than today, meaning that the atmospheric pressure at s.l. was considerably more buoyant, capable of supporting heavier fliers with richer oxygenation to better sustain flight.
It was believed back then, that except for pteranodons, the pterosaurs were of pretty moderate size, never exceeding that of modern hawks and falcons. The pterosaur they found in 1975 was of the size of an average jet fighter. It was truly amazing.
Their size surely helped them glide over large distance like modern Albatross that can get a wingspan of nearly 4m, using recurrent sea wind to cover large areas using as less energy as possible. Their beak could implies that they were filter feeders, as the increased size of said beak would result in a greater amount of water being filtered at once while not requiring it to be rigid since microscopic lifeforms hardly give up much of a fight. Their tallness could help them wander shallow waters with ease, like coastal waters or inland lakes. Like picture a Quetzal doing a fly-over to check if the area is safe, then landing by the water and taking a stroll into the shallows depths, sliding their tilted head left to right (or vice versa) on the surface as to pick up anything floating on the surface, pushing out the excess water. Kind of like a Flamingo, but less efficient due to lack of beak curvature hence why they evolved into greater beak size which correlated into bigger body size and it would give them ample energy to do so since filter feeding is one of the most efficient way for animals to feed, in term of energy gains to energy expenditure.
3:45 - Lol! 😂 That artwork is hilarious.
Clearly they didn’t care for the theory.
Love your videos. Keep it up.
I'VE WAITED SO LONG BOAH I'M SO EXCITED
Having a pelican-like throat pouch could benefit a giant terrestrial stork without skim feeding; modern day storks and herons prey on small, and mostly soft-bodied organisms like frogs and fish. A hard bill is all they need. But a much larger terrestrial stalker would be eating much tougher and heavier animals, so being able to crush/smother prey in the throat before swallowing could have been a helpful adaptation.
great work! i appreciate the vid!
I have to point this out: Quetzalcoatlus... since the name comes from the nahuatl language, the correct pronounciation is "keht-sal-coatlus", not "coo-eht-za-coatlus". The root of the name comes from Quetzalcoatl (which in turns means "feathered serpent") a major god in the Aztec pantheon.
Also, great video, thanks for not letting us wait for like 10 years for part 3!!
Even granting the almost magical weight to size ratio claim in Witton's new paper, Azhdarchids power requirements for takeoff would mean they need a power to weight ratio greater than 2x any living flying animal in order to just become airborne. This would mean claiming that Azhdarchids can somehow generate twice the power of extreme birds like the condor or giant bats that already cannot take-off under their own power from flat ground.
Maybe an omnivore? All we know for sure. They certainly ate something.😊
Nah they where breatharians 🤣
All the heaviest flying animals right now are carnivores of some prescription and flying is energy intensive. Berries and fruits wouldn't really be a reliable option for animals the size of azdarchids and the relatively small torso wouldn't allow for a gut large enough to both process the tough-to-break plant matter and have enough of it in the gut to provide the animal enough energy to live.
My feeling is that when you're that big, 1) you can eat anything you darn well choose to eat, and 2) your mouth is so big, you end up eating any-and-everything that happened to be within as specific radius of your intended target.