“ He is 15 feet tall, with a wingspan of over 30 feet. Hatzegopteryx are Europe's top predators. But this male has come here to reveal another side to his character... ”
Hatzegopteryx (Hațeg Wing) is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur that served as the apex predator of Hațeg Island, an area which eventually became a basin within modern-day Romania, 66 million years ago, during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period.
While Hatzegopteryx is only known from Hațeg Island, similar azhdarchid remains found all over Europe imply that, just as Prehistoric Planet depicted, Hatzegopteryx may have had a bigger range than initially believed.[DN 1] If these remains are proven to be those of Hatzegopteryx, this would mean that, alongside some abelisaurids (like possible descendants of the medium-sized majungasaurine Arcovenator, which lived at least eight million years before Hatzegopteryx), this azhdarchid, more robust than its relatives, can indeed be considered one of the most formidable and most successful predators of Maastrichtian Europe.
A Hatzegopteryx towers over pine saplings while for prey
“ Hatzegopteryx stands 15 feet tall. It is in fact, a pterosaur, a reptile with wings that, here, as it stalks through the trees, it has to keep tightly folded. ”
Hatzegopteryx was one of the largest pterosaurs to ever live. Originally estimated to be 5.5 meters (18 feet) tall, later studies have revealed that the length of its neck was around 50 - 60% that of other azhdarchids of similar size,[MWDN 1] Although it is not the tallest azhdarchid, with a height of 4.6 meters (15 feet),[PhP 1][PhP 2] it is still an imposing figure, towering over every other animal on Hațeg Island.
Wingspan and Weight[]
A Hatzegopteryx shows off his wingspan
“ This is the heaviest animal ever to fly, and there is nowhere else here where it could open its gigantic wings, which are over 30 feet across. ”
As per a recent, 2017 study by Dr. Mark Witton and Dr. Darren Naish, two of the experts who worked on Prehistoric Planet (with the latter serving as the show's lead consultant), the FGGUB R1083 and EME 315 Hatzegopteryx fossils support the current understanding of pterosaur upper size limits in that they likely align with the approximate size predictions for the Hatzegopteryx holotype, fitting the estimated maximum wingspan of 10 - 12 meters (33 - 40 feet),[MWDN 1] while Prehistoric Planet also gives out an estimate of "over 30 feet (9 meters and above)".[PhP 1][PhP 2] Despite its great size, Hatzegopteryx only weighed around 225 - 250 kilograms (500 - 551 pounds),[MWDN 1][DN 2] which is around a quarter of a giraffe's weight. Even so, it is stated to be "the heaviest animal ever to fly." Unlike its relatives, which had hollow bones, Hatzegopteryx had bones with a spongy internal structure akin to Styrofoam, granting it increased toughness while allowing the animal to still be lightweight enough to fly.[4]
Physique[]
A male Hatzegopteryx carrying the body of an 18-kilogram (40-pound) juvenile Tethyshadros
“ Hatzegopteryx. This male has arrived carrying a 40-pound Tethyshadros carcass, a prize from a recent hunt. ”
Despite not being as tall as other azhdarchids like Quetzalcoatlus, Hatzegopteryx is the most robust of them all. At 1.5 meters (5 feet), its neck is around half the length of azhdarchids with comparable wingspans, but is also thicker and more heavily-muscled, able to withstand strong bending forces. Compared to other azhdarchids, which have bone walls with a thickness of around 2.6 millimeters (0.1 inch) or less, the bone walls of Hatzegopteryx are around 4 - 6 millimeters (0.16 - 0.24 inches) thick.[MWDN 1] Its skull, deep and blunt (as opposed to the more slender and spear-like beaks of other azhdarchids), is said to be around 2.5 meters (8 feet, 3 inches) in length, making it one of the largest skulls of any non-marine animal.[2]
Male Hatzegopteryx drags a branch to form a ceremonial nest to attract a mate
However, in 2018, the late Romanian paleontologist Mátyás Vremir estimated that Hatzegopteryx had shorter dimensions compared to other azhdarchids, with a skull only around only 1.6 meters (5 feet, 3 inches) long. In that same study, he focused on specimen LPB (FGGUB) R.2347 (nicknamed "Dracula"), a partial mandible (currently the largest mandible of any pterosaur at 1.1 - 1.3 meters or 3 feet, 7 inches - 4 feet, 3 inches) discovered near Vălioara in the Hațeg Basin, belonging to an azhdarchid with a short skull, robust physique, and a wingspan of around 8 - 9 meters (26 - 30 feet). Despite the similarities, it cannot be fully confirmed that specimen LPB (FGGUB) R.2347 is a Hatzegopteryx due to the lack of overlapping remains for both animals to be properly compared, with claims that it was slightly smaller than Hatzegopteryx, yet possesses a proportionally-larger head (which, again, cannot be confirmed due to a lack of overlapping elements), and was flightless due to features of its shoulders and wings,[3][1][DN 3] a controversial idea that resulted in what appears to be a flawed reconstruction of the pterosaur based on its poor remains,[MW 1] with one such problem of the reconstruction being that its wing finger stretches upwards past its back despite the fact that azhdarchid wing fingers cannot reach that far.[MW 2] Given that all that is known of it is its massive lower jaw (with the rest of the animal being extrapolated from that), it is reasonable to believe that "Dracula" is a large Hatzegopteryx specimen, as some experts and research studies already consider it as such, leaving Hațeg Island with just one giraffe-sized azhdarchid occupying the apex predator niche during the end of the Cretaceous Period.[5][MW 1]
Regardless of the matter, the skull of Hatzegopteryx is understood to be broadened by the rear (being around half a meter or 20 inches across the quadrate bones), equipped with large ridges that serve as strong muscular attachments, giving it an overall stronger construction compared to the skulls of other azhdarchids. Like storks today, Hatzegopteryx would have been powerful enough to tackle and bash prey too big to swallow whole.[MWDN 2][MWDN 1] A few other contemporary azhdarchids possess similar traits, implying that they may be closely related to Hatzegopteryx, or at least evolved under similar yet different conditions that resulted in more robust body builds. A still-unnamed azhdarchid from Mongolia, though only known from a few neck vertebrae, is believed to have robust proportions like Hatzegopteryx,[6] while another unnamed azhdarchid from the Mérigon commune of southwestern France has similarly-thick bone walls of 2 - 6 millimeters (0.1 - 0.24 inches).[7][MWDN 1]
The Hatzegopteryxes are unable to get through tightly-packed forests
“ Hatzegopteryx, giant predatory pterosaurs. The best chance of escape is beneath the canopy of the taller trees. ”
While this muscular physique makes Hatzegopteryxes very powerful and formidable indeed, their bulk can also be a problem at times. In the seventh segment of Forests, the male Hatzegopteryx had to carefully maneuver through the forests of Hațeg Island with its wings tightly folded until it got to the beach, where it could freely spread its wings. Furthermore, prey can exploit this and use the robust form of Hatzegopteryx against it. In the second segment of Islands, while being pursued by some of the azhdarchids, a Tethyshadros herd retreated for a forest where the trees were too tightly-packed for the pterosaurs to fit through.
Vocalizations[]
As with its relative Quetzalcoatlus, Hatzegopteryx is portrayed on the show communicating by means of crocodile-like hisses, guttural, throaty sounds, beak clacking and clattering, and bellows like those of a moose or foghorn, since, according to Dr. Darren Naish, azhdarchids more likely made deep, airy, booming sounds as opposed to stereotypical shrieks and screams.[DN 4][DN 5] Fittingly, given its stockier physique, the bellows of Hatzegopteryx are depicted as being deeper and lower in pitch compared to the bellows of Quetzalcoatlus.
Hatzegopteryx realizes that there is still prey out in the open to hunt
“ One of the most interesting - because they are the most bizarre - are the azhdarchid pterosaurs, and to try and describe what an azhdarchid pterosaur is like is very difficult. They stand as tall as giraffes, they've got heads that may have been 2 meters long, wingspans of 10 meters... they're just some of the most bizarre things to have ever evolved on Earth. ”
― Dr. Mark Witton, Paleoartist & Paleontologist
Prehistoric Planet depicts Hatzegopteryx with a thick, fluffy pycnofiber coat that is mostly dirty white and yellowish, streaked with chocolate brown and black stripes, as well as a tail that appears in the form of a short, tassel-like tuft. They are portrayed with big blue irises that blend well with their big pupils, as opposed to the other azhdarchids in the series (which have light-colored irises that are hard to discern, making their eyes appear to have prominent pin-prick pupils). The males sport a massive but thin, blade-like crest with a corrugated texture, mostly yellow, but with the portions in the front fading to a reddish-brown tone, while females only have a low, yellow ridge running across their heads. The old male Hatzegopteryx seen in the sixth segment of Islands is mostly dirty white and gray save for his fully-brown neck (perhaps an indication of his greater age) and darker tail. He also sports a crest with more vibrant colors, with a bright yellow outer edge and beak tip, dark blue back edge, and a paler (but still vibrant) shade of blue across the inside of the beak, behind the bright yellow edge. The center of the crest remains white, but there is now also a dark brown spot on it, making the crest resemble a butterfly wing.
The Hatzegopteryxes leave Trieste, Italy to hunt elsewhere
“ The island-hopping pterosaurs move on to try their luck elsewhere. The hadrosaurs can return to feeding. ”
Hatzegopteryx appears during the seventh, last segment of the Forests, where a male swallows up a Zalmoxes, makes his way to the beach of Hațeg Island, and, after grooming itself for a while, takes off for another island. The second segment of Islands showcases their status as apex predator by depicting them visiting an island in southern Europe, terrorizing a herd of Tethyshadros. Finally, Hatzegopteryx appears in the sixth, final segment of Islands, where a male with a brightly-colored crest impresses a female, showing the other, more tender side of Hațeg Island's supreme hunters. Footage of Hatzegopteryx walking between the tightly-packed trees of Hațeg Island in the seventh segment of Forests is also briefly used in the Uncovered segment "Flamboyant Flyers" (which is mostly focused on Barbaridactylus) and, along with fellow azhdarchid Quetzalcoatlus, serves as the main focus of the Uncovered segment "Could Giant Pterosaurs Really Hunt on the Ground?", which discusses the hunting preferences of azhdarchids and, based on evidence, concludes that they were well-suited for stalking and even pursuing prey on the ground.
During the time of Hatzegopteryx, 66 million years ago, most of Europe was a series of islands scattered across the prehistoric Tethys Ocean. Hațeg Island, which would one day become a town in Hunedoara County, Romania, was 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the nearest landmass, and is estimated to be 80,000 square kilometers (31,000 square miles) worth of tropical woodland, sustained by braided rivers, lakes, and seasonal monsoons.
Hatzegopteryxes fly down to Trieste, Italy
“ Hunters like T. rex have never reached this little island, so it should be a safe place for a mother to raise her brood... but not necessarily. ”
While current evidence does not prove their existence outside of what would become modern-day Romania, due to their flight capabilities, it was possible that Hatzegopteryx may not be confined to just Hațeg Island, with the remains of similar animals being found all over Europe.[DN 1] In the second segment of Islands, a flock of four males and three females swooped down on an island that would eventually become modern-day Trieste, Italy, sending an entire Tethyshadros herd into panic just with the mere sight of them. However, th
Paleofauna[]
Hatzegopteryx swallowing a juvenile Zalmoxes
“ This forest, so rich in small creatures, is one of its regular hunting grounds. It stands on the southernmost edge of Europe. ”
Resources on islands tend to be limited, and Hațeg Island is no exception. Due to this, most of the inhabitants of Hațeg Island like Telmatosaurus grew smaller due to an evolutionary process known as insular dwarfism, allowing them to survive on less food, require less territory, and, in theory, be less-susceptible to changing conditions (though it appears that others, like Zalmoxes, were already small to begin with, having simply inherited their diminutive size from their ancestors).[DN 6] Conversely, due to the absence of massive theropods or other large predators and the great availability of animals that are now easier to prey on due to their smaller size, Hatzegopteryx, through insular gigantism, evolved to become the largest carnivore of Hațeg Island, and one of the most robust of the azhdarchids. Because of its large size, with its robust physique enabling it to attack prey too large to ingest whole,[MWDN 2][MWDN 1]Hatzegopteryx can potentially attack even horse-sized dwarf titanosaurs like Magyarosaurus, Paludititan, and possible relatives of theirs, even though, with their mass (exceeding that of the taller but lighter Hatzegopteryx), these sauropods can be considered the largest residents of Hațeg Island.
While Hatzegopteryx is by far the largest known predator of the island, other hunters also thrived in the same ecosystem. Among these are the smaller azhdarchids Albadraco and Eurazhdarcho, the madtsoiid snake Nidophis, crocodyliforms such as Aprosuchus and Sabresuchus, and "Megalosaurus hungaricus" a possible abelisaurid like the French Tarascosaurus, currently considered dubious due to being known from poor remains that are now lost.
As one of the last pterosaurs, Hatzegopteryx, along with most of the animals it coexisted with, would have been affected by the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event 66.043 million years ago,[8] a catastrophe that ultimately wiped out three-quarters of all life on Earth, including all non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, mosasaurs, and plesiosaurs. Even long after the extinction of Hatzegopteryx, various large, flight-capable predators, under the right circumstances, convergently evolved to occupy niches similar to the one Hatzegopteryx dominated, with examples including Tyto gigantea and Tyto robustus, massive barn owls that coexisted in Gargano, Italy (which was an island when sea levels were higher 12 - 4 million years ago), and the Haast's Eagle, the largest eagle that ever lived, apex predator of New Zealand's South Island until it died out after Māori settlers arrived in the 13th century and hunted its preferred prey, the moa, to extinction.[9][10]
Hatzegopteryx takes off using the quadrupedal launch technique
“ Now, his wings will carry him to yet another forest where life proliferates more variously and more abundantly than anywhere else on our Prehistoric Planet. ”
As with all pterosaurs, Hatzegopteryx took off from the ground by means distinct from those of birds. To fly, birds jump off with their two legs, and some even need to run in order to take off. Pterosaurs, on the other hand, relied on the "quadrupedal launch" technique, as suggested by Dr. Mark Witton and Dr. Michael Habib, two of the experts who worked on Prehistoric Planet. With their muscular forelimbs and pectoral muscles, they are able to catapult their lightweight bodies into the air and achieve lift. Due to their more energy-efficient means of taking flight, the pterosaurs were not restricted to the same body size and form limitations as birds, allowing them to achieve massive body sizes, with their flight muscles being 50 kilograms (110 pounds), making up 20 - 25% of the total body mass of the largest azhdarchids.[11][12][MW 3] One common misconception is that the different atmospheric conditions of the Mesozoic Era allowed pterosaurs to stay aloft better, though Dr. Darren Naish, Prehistoric Planet's lead consultant, clarified that pterosaurs only relied on their own power to achieve lift, and would be able to fly just fine even in environments like those of the modern day.[DN 7]
“ Some islands are so small, that they have no large land-living residents. But they may nonetheless get visitors. ”
With the capability to fly from island to island, Hatzegopteryx is able to expand its options and visit any new hunting grounds within reach. Fossils of similar animals found even as far west as France and Spain indicate that Hatzegopteryx (or, at least, its close relatives) dominated several of the various island archipelagos of Late Cretaceous Europe, indicating that the species had a wide hunting range.[DN 1]
Hunting Tactics and Feeding Preferences[]
Three male Hatzegopteryxes searching for prey in a clearing
“ Pterosaurs would have been an awe-inspiring sight in the sky, but these giants were even more impressive and terrifying on the ground. ”
As the apex predator of Hațeg Island, Hatzegopteryx is an ominous threat to most of the other animals it comes across. Their large size also means that none of the other animals in their ecosystem can really challenge or harm them when fully-grown, leaving them free to move around and do whatever they please, with the male in the seventh segment of Forests casually walking through a forest after swallowing a Zalmoxes as a quick snack, spreading his wings to warm them under the sun's rays before flying off to another island. While its flight capabilities allowed it to survey great distances and search for prey from above, as with all azhdarchids, once it has found viable targets, Hatzegopteryx likely preferred to stalk and pursue its prey on the ground.[MWDN 2]
Hatzegopteryx grabs a juvenile Tethyshadros
“ Azhdarchids combined this very competent terrestrial walking ability with this massive long stork-like face. They almost certainly were predators that walked around reaching down to grab animals. ”
― Dr. Darren Naish, Lead Scientific Consultant
Hatzegopteryx is mostly shown quickly grabbing prey within reach. This is known as "raptorial behavior" (derived from "raptor", the Latin term for "thief", which was in turn derived from "rapio", Latin for "to seize"). Most predators attack and capture prey in this way. However, some are more specialized in doing so compared to others. Some rely on powerful limbs and claws, as demonstrated by birds of prey (fittingly known as "raptors"), most non-avian theropods (most especially dromaeosaurs, commonly but incorrectly called "raptors" due to the fact that several members of the family have the term in their name), praying mantises, scorpions, and other similar animals. Others, like crocodiles and the aptly-named macroraptorial sperm whales like Livyatan melvillei, rely on sharp teeth that dig into prey and prevent their escape, coupled with a long snout and jaws with powerful muscles. Since pterosaurs lack hands, feet, or claws that are suited for grabbing, they can only rely on their bills for the task, which could be a factor behind the evolution of their massive body sizes and long beaks.
Hatzegopteryxes chasing a herd of Tethyshadros
“ We have to remember the, this throat size of this thing is half-meter wide, that's about the width of my shoulders. We would be on the menu for these things if they were alive today. ”
― Dr. Mark Witton, Paleoartist & Paleontologist
As with most predators, Hatzegopteryx would prefer to conserve energy and go for the easiest and most convenient meal within reach. It would not pass up the opportunity to scavenge a dead animal, or, as demonstrated twice on Prehistoric Planet, grab small animals or juveniles that it can quickly swallow. However, to suit the fact that it lived alongside animals that shrunk due to insular dwarfism, Hatzegopteryx traded off some of its range for strength, explaining its shorter but overall more robust features which gave it the capability to attack and bring down even animals too big to swallow whole.[MWDN 2][MWDN 1] For this reason, even adult Tethyshadros, cow-sized hadrosaurs that are three times the mass of the giraffe-sized Hatzegopteryx, prefer to flee from them rather than attempt to fight them off.
Hatzegopteryxes trying to flush out Tethyshadros juveniles
“ Hatzegopteryx are very intelligent pterosaurs. Now that the element of surprise is gone, they change tactics. Spreading out across the clearing, they try to flush out any prey that might still be there. ”
Hatzegopteryx also demonstrated a degree of predatory cunning. Upon hearing one Tethyshadros try to call out to her children, they realized that there may still be prey left in the open fields (though they would have likely still checked the clearing for prey even without this clue), and thus spread out across the area to flush them out. As with many predators, they tend to be greedy when it comes to prey they caught, as a female Hatzegopteryx tries to take a dead Tethyshadros from a male, who turns away and swallows his catch so the female cannot have a piece of it. Even so, given the meager amount of prey they successfully caught, the Hatzegopteryxes agreed on the decision to fly off the island and try their luck elsewhere.
Mating Behavior, Preferences, and Tactics[]
Two Hatzegopteryx males fighting, showing the difference between the normal (left) and mating colors
While the full extent of sexual dimorphism is unknown in Hatzegopteryx itself, sexual dimorphism is apparent in many other pterosaurs, and Dr. Darren Naish, lead consultant of Prehistoric Planet, brings up how, not only is sexual dimorphism the logical conclusion for azhdarchoids, but also that melanosomes in azhdarchoid crests serve as further proof of their use as display structures, hence, the old male Hatzegopteryx with its special breeding season coloration is not unusual given how this can also be seen in living animals like lizards and birds.[DN 8]
The female (left) is interested in the mating display of the male
“ On a small island, a monumental display takes place as the giant Hatzegopteryx reveals his gentler side to woo a mate. ”
― The official Apple TV+ episode synopsis for Islands
As for their mating habits, the Hatzegopteryx males put on a show for the females to display their strength, establish trust, and prove themselves as worthy of passing down their genes to the female's offspring. They do this with a ceremonial nest, a nuptial gift (slain prey offered by an animal to a partner before mating) that serves as a testament of their hunting prowess and power, guttural songs, and synchronized dances that can involve both the male and female intimately clattering their beaks against each other. Winning direct confrontations against potential rivals can also help further demonstrate which male is the right choice for the females to mate with.
Gallery[]
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