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Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs

April 5, 2014 — January 4, 2015

Traveling

 

TUPANDACTYLUSfinal

They flew with their fingers. They walked on their wings. Some were gigantic, while others could fit in the palm of a hand. Millions of years ago, the skies were ruled by pterosaurs, the first animals with backbones to fly under their own power.

BTS: Modeling a Vinctifer comptoni
Vinctifer comptoni, a filter-feeding fish, lived in a South American lagoon 110 million years ago alongside pterosaurs, dinosaurs, and crocodilians. 
© AMNH/R. Mickens
The pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus northropi's leg is refined by an exhibition specialist for a model of the animal featured in the Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
An exhibition preparator works on the leg of the life-size model of the pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus northropi, a gigantic pterosaur that is the largest known flying animal.
© AMNH/R. Mickens
Pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus northropi is being modeled for the Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
The in-progress life-size model of a Qutezalcoatlus northropi pterosaur takes up a large part of the Exhibition Department's studio.
© AMNH/R. Mickens
This pterosaur model was created for the trackway featured in the exhibition Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History to illustrate how this animal may have moved based on the fossil tracks it left behind.
This pterosaur model was created for the trackway featured in the exhibition Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs, to illustrate how this animal may have moved based on the fossil tracks it left behind.
© AMNH/R. Mickens

Exhibition Highlights

About the Exhibition Meet the Curators What Is a Pterosaur? How Did Pterosaurs Fly? Why Are Pterosaur Fossils Rare? Resources For Educators: Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs

The Museum gratefully acknowledges the

Richard and Karen LeFrak Exhibition and Education Fund.