Meet Pterosaur, world’s biggest mid-Jurassic flying animal found in Scotland

Are you intrigued by dinosaurs and other ancient animals? This flying animal will interest you a lot.

Researchers have spotted a fossil on the Isle of Skye in northwest Scotland. This fossil has been described as the biggest pterosaur from the Middle Jurassic period discovered so far. The new findings were published in Current Biology this week.

Scientists have termed the new species as ‘Dearc sgiathanach'. The term is pronounced as “jark ski-an-ack,” which is a Scottish Gaelic name meaning both “winged reptile” and “reptile from Skye.”

Based on American paleontologist Stephen Brusatte, the discovery is ‘a superlative Scottish fossil’. Referring to the state of preservation of the fossil, “far beyond any pterosaur ever found in Scotland and probably the best British skeleton found since the days of Mary Anning in the early 1800s”.

Pterosaurs or pterodactyls, who are commonly known as flying reptiles, have existed from the Late Triassic that was around 228 million years ago. They were the first vertebrates to fly. Many people who saw the movie series – “The Land Before Time” are already familiar with the animal as it was one of the main characters.

Despite having names quite similar to dinosaurs, pterosaurs are not same as the latter. Prior to this new finding, scientists believed that pterosaurs were rarely bigger than 1.6 meters during the Triassic and the Jurassic, Brusatte said, but “now we know they were capable of getting much bigger.”

The fossil was found in 2017 by a PhD student Amelia Penny at the shores of the Isle of Skye. She and her team members were ecstatic to find out that its not just a skull but a whole skeleton. Excavation was conducted and the precious fossil was then discovered.

After studying the fossil under a microscope, the Scottish researchers found that the flying animal was still in growing stages.