Very HardOrnithocheirus
Ornithocheirus simus
OR-nith-oh-KY-rus· “bird hand”
🪽 Pterosaur🕰️ Cretaceous🐟 piscivore🦴 Ornithocheiridae
5 m
Length
0.9 m
Height
20 kg
Weight
A large fish-eating pterosaur with a keeled crest at the tip of its snout, known from the Cretaceous of England. Made famous — and greatly oversized — as the giant migrating flyer in Walking with Dinosaurs. A pterosaur, not a dinosaur.
When
Early Cretaceous, ~110 million years ago
Found in
United Kingdom
Discovered
Harry Seeley, 1869
Did you know?
- Bore a rounded keel-crest on the very tip of its snout.
- Starred as the giant migrating pterosaur in Walking with Dinosaurs.
- Its on-screen size was exaggerated; a ~5 m wingspan is likelier.
Artwork: El fosilmaníaco, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.