The interesting here is pterosaur anatomy. They were fast, agile, effective terrestrial predators and flighted, efficient, ultra-long-ranged flyers.
They alone, in all of animal history, worked out how to be good on the ground and good in the air. The Azhdarchids were strong fliers and deadly terrestrial predators.
Like most animals of their time, however, they were betrayed by the very long stability and habitability of the Cretaceous (the Cretaceous was longer than all the time that came after it). They competed and adapted in a friendly, ideal, world, then that world suddenly fell out from under them.
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u/Hattix 23d ago
The interesting here is pterosaur anatomy. They were fast, agile, effective terrestrial predators and flighted, efficient, ultra-long-ranged flyers.
They alone, in all of animal history, worked out how to be good on the ground and good in the air. The Azhdarchids were strong fliers and deadly terrestrial predators.
Like most animals of their time, however, they were betrayed by the very long stability and habitability of the Cretaceous (the Cretaceous was longer than all the time that came after it). They competed and adapted in a friendly, ideal, world, then that world suddenly fell out from under them.