Chilean scientists are said to have discovered a remarkable graveyard containing well-preserved bones of prehistoric flying reptiles that roamed the Atacama desert more than 100 million years ago.
Scientists found that the bones belonged to pterosaurs, flying animals with an enormous wingspan that fed by sifting water through long thin teeth, similar to flamingos. The researchers, led by Jhonatan Alarcon of the University of Chile, had been looking for pterosaurs for years, but this discovery far exceeded their expectations.
‘This has global relevance because these types of findings are relatively rare. Almost everywhere in the world, the pterosaur remains that are found are isolated’, Alarcon said.
He further added that the scientists will be able to study the lifestyle of pterosaurs, not only its morphology, thanks to the finding of this uncommon cemetery. ‘We could determine how groups of these animals were composed, if they raised their babies or not’, he said.
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Another unexpected finding was the excellent preservation of the bones revealed. ‘Most pterosaur bones that are found are flattened, broken. Nevertheless, we were able to recover preserved three-dimensional bones from this site’, said David Rubilar, head of palaeontology at Chile’s Museum of National History.
This will aid scientists in better understanding the anatomy of pterosaurs. The discovery was made 65 kilometres (40.39 miles) distant from another location where pterosaur remains had been discovered. This finding backs up scientists’ theory that pterosaurs were previously common in northern Chile.
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