An ancient flying reptile with a wingspan almost the length of a bus has been discovered in Canada.
Cryodrakon boreas, alive at the same time as Tyrannosaurus rex, soared in the skies above modern-day Alberta, scientists have announced.
The bones belonging to two of them were found three decades ago, but misidentified as Quetzalcoatlus remains.
"This is a cool discovery, we knew this animal was here but now we can show it is different to other azhdarchids and so it gets a name," said Queen Mary University of London's David Hone, lead author of a new study.
Azhdarchids are a branch of pterosaurs with extremely long necks which were wiped out with the dinosaurs when the asteroid struck 66 million years ago.
A fully-grown Cryodrakon boreas would have had a wingspan more than 10 metres across and weight 250kg, making it one of the biggest creatures ever to have flown. In comparison, the biggest wingspan of any creature alive now is the wandering albatross' 3.6m.
If it stood next to a giraffe, their sizes would be roughly comparable - aside from the gigantic wings.
- Dragon-like dinosaur fires up scientists
- T-Rex couldn't extend their tongues
- Dino Zoo 'as close to Jurassic World as you can get'
- Scientists say they could recreate living dinosaurs
"It is great that we can identify Cryodrakon as being distinct to Quetzalcoatlus as it means we have a better picture of the diversity and evolution of predatory pterosaurs in North America," said Dr Hone.
Cryodrakon boreas now ranks alongside Quetzalcoatlus as the biggest animals ever to fly.
Newshub.
