Pterosaurs Laid Soft Eggs

Galvasean

Remember Darwinopterus? Well, a female of the genus has been found complete with an unlaid egg. The discovery shows conclusively that male and female pterosaurs looked different - something which had been long suspected.
It also shows that restorations of pterosaurs incubating eggs and feeding babies in nests were almost certainly wrong. (Add that to the list of scientific inaccuracies in Jurassic Park 3)

In addition to the associated egg, the fossil has a larger pelvis than other known Darwinopterus fossils, which is consistent with the animal being a female.

Chemical analysis of the egg suggests that, instead of laying hard-shell eggs and watching over the chicks, as most birds do, pterosaur mothers laid soft-shell eggs, which they buried in moist ground and abandoned.

"It's a very reptilian style of reproduction," Unwin said. "Fertilize the egg, lay the egg, and then go and do whatever you want, without having to worry about what's happening with your offspring."

Based on other fossils of juvenile pterosaurs, scientists think that, unlike birds, pterosaur hatchlings were capable of fending for themselves.

"They looked like tiny adults," Unwin said. "They were highly precocious and could almost certainly fly very soon after hatching."

Read more here.


Photo by Lü Junchang

Adam Khor

This got me thinking... do you think giant marine pterosaurs, such as Pteranodon, would bury their eggs in beaches, like sea turtles, and then the baby Pteranodon would emerge and fly away? That would be a sight to behold...

Rubecula

Sort of like a swarm of reptilian mosquitos? (Mind you they emerge from water) Actually the image in my head is not only amazing, in a way it is horrifying.

Adam Khor

Exactly! I think it would be a very impressive sight, especially if they laid many eggs or if many Pteranodon laid eggs in the same beach...

Rubecula

Just like sea turtles do today (and probably way back then too) The turtles have to run a gauntlet of predators to get to the water, but there are still many who make it. This may or may not have been true of flying reptilians. If they over laid to preserve the species in the way that turtles do, the sky must have been black.

Then again, did they have to learn to fly first? I imagine they didn't fly straight away and there were predators around, possibly cannibalism too.

Like I said in the previous post... horrifying.

Galvasean

Accordng to that article the pterosaur babies were born fairly well formed. I'd say they'd scuttle for cover once they were born, perhaps climbing trees to avoid predators. They'd probably be able to fly within a few days.

Adam Khor

Yeah, actually I remember reading somewhere that newborn pterosaurs had the same proportions as adult ones, meaning that they were able to fly from the moment they were born; even, some specimens that were once thought to be diminutive pterosaur species (such as Pterodactylus elegans, once regarded as the smallest pterosaur) are now known to have been the flight-capable hatchlings of other larger, already known pterosaurs.

It doesn´t seem so surprising to me; it's just like crocodiles and sea turtles being able to swim from the moment they are born. And I suposse this means adult pterosaurs gave them little or no parental care at all (although being so diverse, I bet this varied from one species to another).

It's funny how we tend to imagine pterosaurs as bird-like, having a nest and feeding their chicks with hapless cave women and teenagers (bet you all remember!), yet in reality, the fossil record suggests they were more similar to crocodiles with wings in many ways!

Galvasean

There's an intersting thought, a Pteranodon carrying it's babies in a pouch like a modern crocodile.

Rubecula

Probably had to do that when they were shopping at Lidl, those baskets with seats just are not suitable for young pterosaurs I have found:D:D