Meet the ‘giant flying murder head,’ a frightening prehistoric flyer.
With a wingspan of up to 33 feet, weighing up to 550 pounds and standing 13 feet tall, the newly discovered “Cryodrakon boreas” is one of the largest flying animals ever discovered, according to a study in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
“Cryodrakon boreas” is Greek for “frozen dragon of the north wind” and the pterosaur’s bones were discovered in the icy badlands of Alberta, Canada in 1992.
While paleontologists have known about the bones for decades, they confirmed that the bones belonged to a new genus, according to the study published Tuesday.
The animals lived between 76.9 and 75.8 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. The Cryodrakon didn’t have teeth or a way to chew food, so scientists believe it would eat whatever it could fit down its throat; anything from lizards to small mammals, and even baby dinosaurs.
While it sounds like something out of “Game of Thrones” this “frozen dragon” wouldn’t have made a good pet for Daenerys Targaryen or Jon Snow, as this flying reptile didn’t breathe fire and looked more like a winged giraffe-like pelican than anything resembling an imagined dragon.
