Discovery of Quetzalcoatlus
Descubrimiento del Quetzalcoatlus
- Date
- 1971 · confidence high
- Place
- Big Bend National Park, Texas, United States
- Credited to
- Douglas A. Lawson
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Graduate student Douglas Lawson found bone remains in Big Bend of a giant pterosaur whose wingspan exceeded ten metres, the largest known flying animal to date.
What it led to
- Revision of the physical limits of animal flight
- New studies of the biomechanics of giant pterosaurs