Submitted 2 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/530631c6-decb-4d3e-a562-9c42d867338a.png
How is it that we discover bones of a large flying creature, and first thought is “it looks mammalian, like a flying possum!” And then “nah, that’s ridiculous. It was a flying reptile! Like a DRAGON!”
Large flying creature, and nobody thinks giant bird? Really?
We already have birds. Give us flying possums or dragons.
Apparently they were way more similar to bats than to birds.
the wings were in structure, yes, but i don’t think basically anything else is even remotely similar to bats, maybe the fact that they were fuzzy but like… baby birds are fuzzy too a lot of the time
Why do the background creatures look more like modern reconstructions than the creature in the foreground? Lmao
Because it’s further away so you just see the shape like the skeletron
Omg I would love if they had possum energy.
You know, like not dick seagull hustle tactics.
I never thought about Mesozoic fauna having external ears. Birds don’t, so presumably their dinosaur ancestors didn’t. But maybe pterosaurs did?
Imprint fossils preserve feathers and other soft tissues. No ears.
In German, we call bats “Fledermaus” (fluttering mouse) and this is the missing link between them and regular mouses. Who would have guessed that of all the peoples in the world, the Germans have been right all this time
My dog’s name is Die Fledermaus. He’s a black-and-tan dachshund.
We call him Maus for short. But he does look like a little bat dog.
It could work as a new Lemmy logo.
Pteroratyl
With long nails 😜
Imagine how archeologists would draw an elephant or a camel if they only had bones to go with.
wildly inaccurate animal illustrations is such a vibe
Look at samurai era illustrations of lions and leopards. The artists only had the skins to work off, so they used house cats for the faces. And they thought they were the same species, with lions being males and leopards being females.
Boy had possums on the brain
He’s the motherfucking pterodactyl, and he’s here to ptero you a new asshole!
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 2 months ago
Possums with wings!
Evil_Opossum@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Screaming since the beginning of time!
dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 2 months ago
She nap, she crap, but most importantly, she flap
Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 2 months ago
So just regular angels <3
RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Ptossums.
intensely_human@lemm.ee 2 months ago
A sort of battlefield drone used by the Raptor Legions. So called because you’d “ptossum” at the enemy where’d they’d wreak havoc
FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 2 months ago
This is low key, terrifying.
Juliana@sopuli.xyz 2 months ago
Scary 😂
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
All hail our skypossum overlords!