About ptera

[Founding Farter]

1. does it have a dive mechanic? 2. how strong will it be? 3. will it be in survival?

[[Ravenous]]

Originally posted by Frost Spectre:

I think Pteranodon and other pterosaurs utilized form of swooping attacks rather than diving, as in lower down low enough, then fly along the surface and try to nab prey with the elongated jaws.

Diving is more for lighter and smaller flying dinos, maybe Archaeopteryx and other similar sized dinos capable of some flight.

Yeah, that’s what I imagine they did too, flying low over the surface of ponds and lakes to snatch any fish or other small prey that are too close to the surface, or shallow dives out of the sun, but not like modern oceanic birds that actually crash-dive into the sea, just a series of shallow dives to skim the suface for fish...and juvie raptors XD

[Braxxell]

berdemic 2: release of pteranodon

[Felinae]

Originally posted by Frost Spectre:

I think Pteranodon and other pterosaurs utilized form of swooping attacks rather than diving, as in lower down low enough, then fly along the surface and try to capture prey with the elongated jaws.
Or get on the ground and snatch the prey there.

Diving is more for lighter and smaller flying dinos, maybe Archaeopteryx and other similar sized dinos capable of some flight.

No pterosaur was suited for aerial hunting (except anurognathids, but their prey was likely limited to insects). Foraging was done either on the ground, while wading or, for many piscivores, while swimming.

Even if they weren't "crashing into the water," swimming in pursuit of aquatic prey was entirely plausible as pterosaurs could swim, and leave the water, just fine.

http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-life-aquatic-with-flying-reptiles.html

[Bela]

Whatever they do, they better make it so that the things take collision damage if they try to harass large dinosaurs on the ground. It should only reasonably be able to attack small dinosaurs and juveniles.

From someone who originally played on EoT (Roblox) a long time ago before buying this game, Pteranodon players were literally satanic. I don't think I met a single one who didn't want to kamikaze into you and make your life hell. It wasn't even just because that game was full of children, because I've met plenty of other civilized people there.

I really don't want to relive that. Especially not in survival.

[Jurassic Bird]

Originally posted by Squidward:

Originally posted by Frost Spectre:

I think Pteranodon and other pterosaurs utilized form of swooping attacks rather than diving, as in lower down low enough, then fly along the surface and try to capture prey with the elongated jaws.
Or get on the ground and snatch the prey there.

Diving is more for lighter and smaller flying dinos, maybe Archaeopteryx and other similar sized dinos capable of some flight.

No pterosaur was suited for aerial hunting (except anurognathids, but their prey was likely limited to insects). Foraging was done either on the ground, while wading or, for many piscivores, while swimming.

Even if they weren't "crashing into the water," swimming in pursuit of aquatic prey was entirely plausible as pterosaurs could swim, and leave the water, just fine.

http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-life-aquatic-with-flying-reptiles.html

Mark Witton suggests that Campylognathoides may had been aerial predator though.

[Felinae]

Originally posted by Jurassic Bird:

Originally posted by Squidward:

No pterosaur was suited for aerial hunting (except anurognathids, but their prey was likely limited to insects). Foraging was done either on the ground, while wading or, for many piscivores, while swimming.

Even if they weren't "crashing into the water," swimming in pursuit of aquatic prey was entirely plausible as pterosaurs could swim, and leave the water, just fine.

http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-life-aquatic-with-flying-reptiles.html

Mark Witton suggests that Campylognathoides may had been aerial predator though.

I looked it up and you are right, they were described as potentially being agile enough to seize prey in the air. So I concede I was wrong about that bit.

However, whereas hunting insects in the air was almost a certainty for anurognathids, hunting prey in the air was suggested as a possibility and one of several ideas he describes as "provensional" (at least in the book he wrote). The strange nature of their teeth and crude ability to chew making an exact ecology hard to pin down.

[TapSnapOrNap]

maybe they will add ai fish in big water sources so that ptera can get food without much difficulty

[Founding Farter]

why i say 1 is true is because i remember quetz had a dive. 2. someone told me they expected it to be the size and strength of a utah. and ive seen the baby form but still not sure it'll be in survival

[Founding Farter]

@Jurassic bird well dude, quetz had a dive so i wouldn't doubt something smaller would have one too :/

[Founding Farter]

also another question, will ptera be able to use scent in the air do you think?

[Founding Farter]

i feel like when ptera comes out, when you're a dryo or a galli, u gotta watch out uwu, and god help you if you're a juvie, because a possible utah strength flying reptile is gonna be very worrying, when ptera comes out, we'll always have to look up every once in a while. i could see ptera looking down at dryos and it swoops down and pecks it and bites it, also pls dondi if ur reading this PLEASE I BEG YOU PLEASE ADD A GRAB MECHANIC AND CORPSE CARRYING!

[Pomp]

Originally posted by Graham:

i feel like when ptera comes out, when you're a dryo or a galli, u gotta watch out uwu, and god help you if you're a juvie, because a possible utah strength flying reptile is gonna be very worrying, when ptera comes out, we'll always have to look up every once in a while. i could see ptera looking down at dryos and it swoops down and pecks it and bites it, also pls dondi if ur reading this PLEASE I BEG YOU PLEASE ADD A GRAB MECHANIC AND CORPSE CARRYING!

*when a dryo passes another* "watch the skies traveler"

[Cation]

Originally posted by Squidward:

Originally posted by DANCER9op:

Okay so actually..
Most pterosaur experts like Mark Witton agree that pterosaurs were great runners on the ground as well, many of the being able to gallop pretty darn fast. Obviously most ground animals would still have the edge in speed but you know, they could actually move pretty decently on land as well. The front legs have a resemblance to those of modern day ungulates like cattle, meaning they could probably move faster than we thought in the past.
Just leaving information out here to spark ideas.

The efficacy to move on the ground varied among pterosaurs, same as it does for modern birds and bats. The thing about "resemblance to those of modern day ungulates" is certainly applicable to Azhdarchids, but it's not to all other groups of pterosaurs.

Especially not to Pteranodon. Although Pteranodon wasn't as bad off as Nyctosaurus (which in a book written by Mark Witton he describes their front legs as being little more than "stability aids alone"), they were still far less competent on the ground.


Weird thing is that while azdarchids were likely much better on the ground (possibly the best pterosaur runners even), the Quetz running animation in the isle was pitifully slow whereas the Pteranodon's seems faster.

Originally posted by Jurassic Bird:

Fossils from newly hatch Pterosaurs point out that they may actually be super precocial, capable of flying even right after hatching.

Nemicolopterus, a very small pterosaur may actually be hatchling individual of another sympatric specie, Sinopterus and it’s already shown to have pretty developed wings that could be used to fly.

While precociality does seem the case for most pterosaurs with young that have been found (including pteranodon itself), altriciality has been suggested for Hamipterus at least.

Of course that's not applicable to to pteranodon since we have evidence they were precocial and could fly as juveniles, but I just wanted to mention it.

Isn't that amost exactly what I said..? I did say that most pterosaurs were not going to compete with ground animals in terms of speed. Well, the resemblance is there (the ungulate-leg thing), as the legs are similar to azdarchids', though I do agree that they would be slower than them.
This resemblance thing I read from a Mark Witton blog post btw :)