Pteranodon

Pteranodon was a giant flying reptile, or Pterosaur. It was not a dinosaur, but very closely related to them (both are Archosaurs). It is the classic "pterodactyl" seen in most dinosaur movies and was one of the largest creatures ever to fly. Pteranodon was a fish eater, that lived in the shores of a shallow sea in what is today western North America. It could measure up to 10 meters of wingspan, and its head alone was 2 meters long. It was a superb flyer, and walked on all fours when in land. Paleontologists believe that Pteranodon could travel huge distances into the sea looking for food, but it had to return to land in order to lay its eggs and breed. It had a very sharp sense of sight, but poor or non existent sense of smell. Male Pteranodons had larger crests than females; it is possible that, when alive, the animal's crest was brightly colored and served as a sexual exhibition to attract a mate. Pteranodon lived at the Late Cretaceous, about 75 million years ago. Several species are known; they are recognized by size and by the shape of both the beak and the crest.

Jurassic Park movies




Pteranodons were not present in any of the Jurassic Park novels; instead, the first novel portrayed one species of pterosaur, the Cearadactylus, somewhat smaller. In the movies, however, Pteranodon was chosen instead of Cearadactylus, probably because of its larger size, more spectacular/bizarre appearance, and huge popularity with audiences (most people recognize Pteranodon as the quintessential pterodactyl). Steven Spielberg wanted to have the pterosaurs in the first Jurassic Park movie, however, the aviary scene described in the novel turned out to be too expensive to recreate.

Later, in The Lost World, Spielberg wanted to show an action sequence with several safari team members running away from a pack or raptors and leaping off a cliff in parachutes; however, they would be attacked by a flock of Pteranodon. Once again, the idea was abandoned (although conceptual art for the Pteranodons exists for that movie).Another scene flimed but was cut had Pteranodons attacking the rescue chopper. The movie does depict Pteranodon, though; at the end of the movie, several are shown flying above the heads of a Stegosaurus herd and the Tyrannosaurus rex family. One of them is shown up close, being the last "dinosaur" shown. This Pteranodon is shown to be of a very lean body build, with an S shaped neck and a slender, hook ended beak. It is also shown to perch on a tree the same way a bird would (which is often said by most paleontologists to be impossible, for Pteranodon did not have grasping feet and was most likely a quadruped when it landed, although it was probable in the film, due to InGen splicing their DNA with that of birds). The Pteranodons in The Lost World were based on a species called Pteranodon longiceps. Originally Steven Spielberg wanted to use Pteranodon sternbergi, but changed the species at the last minute; probably for the more straight and elegant crest of the longiceps. Concept art for the sternbergi species can still be seen.

In Jurassic Park III, Pteranodons were finally given an important role. Director Joe Johnston had the Pteranodons re-designed for this movie; they were shown as being larger, more robust and different colored than the Pteranodons shown at the end of The Lost World; they also lack a hooked bill, but have rows of dinosaur-like teeth on their mouths (something real life Pteranodons did not have). These teeth are often cited as a result of InGen's messing with dinosaur DNA with primate, amphbian, and avain DNA and is why many call it a "hippocretis" species. In Jurassic Park III, the main characters enter, unknowingly, a giant bird cage in a river canyon, containing four adult Pteranodons and an nest filled with precocious, voracious hatchlings. 13-year-old Eric Kirby is snatched by one of the animals and thrown to the nest to serve as food for the young, but Billy Brennan manages to save the boy. He, however, ends up being attacked himself, and he is brutally mauled and severely injured by the flying reptiles. Later, when they escape the bird cage, the Kirbys accidentally leave the cage's door open, and the Pteranodons escape; they are briefly seen at the end of the movie, heading for "new nesting grounds". It is unknown whether the adults abandoned their chicks or were simply exploring the island's surroundings, perhaps planning for a future, actual escape. The ferocity and extreme power of these animals is also generally passed as genetic mutation along with their teeth. It is possible that the reason they were in an aviary (while The Lost World's Pteranodons) was because of the mutations (with the scientists probably fearing they would kill the other Pteradon species on the island or harm the employees), and the Pteranodons from The Lost World were less dangerous than Jurassic Park III's Pteranodons. Thus both movies could be accurately depciting Sorna's species, if we adopt the idea of there being two species of Pteranodons on the island. Maybe the ones seen in JP3 were the first attempt at reincarnating these creatures but when scientists noticed it's ferocity, they created a safer, more docile version. Sternbergi may exist on Isla Sorna but this is unknown. It could also be possibly that The Lost World's Pteranodons simply found a way out of the aviary, with them possibly, instead of becoming more ferocious like their bretheren, InGen might have accidently given them more intelligence, and were able to devise a clever escape from the aviary without being attacked by the fiercer Pteradons, and eventually becam more docile with more food outside of the avairy, and less competition from the other more ferocious Pteradons.

In 2001, a short novel named Flyers, written by Scott Ciencin, was released. The novel, part of a trilogy that has Eric Kirby as the main character, describes an attack of the Pteranodon flock (including the young) to the Universal studios in Florida, before they are tricked into going back to the island. This novel is, however, not canon, and some fans have speculated that a hypothetical Jurassic Park IV could reveal what happened to these Pteranodons.

A deleted scene from Jurassic Park III was going to show adult male Pteranodons (all the adults from the film were female), which were supposed to be larger and darker in color, and was also supposed to have them fight the Velociraptors, but this along with many others was cut from the movie.

Accuracy
The Pteranodon in Jurassic Park III are correctly depicted in regards to their size (paleontologists claim that the largest species could reach 10 meters of wingspan, being the size of a small aircraft), as well as their quadrupedal gait. They are, however, shown incorrectly to have teeth (probably a result of InGen's messing with their DNA). Most scientists believe that Pteranodons could not lift large prey with their talons, simply because their feet were not designed to grasp; instead, they caught most of their prey with their large beaks. The number of eggs or young that Pteranodons could have in one single brood is unknown; however, the movie correctly portrays pterosaurs as being able to fly from a very early age. All Pteranodons in Jurassic Park III are shown to have long crests of about the same size, when in real life, Pteranodon males would have large crests, and females had smaller ones. However, it might be that these Pteranodons don´t belong to any species known as a fossil, which would easily explain this trait.

Vocalizations
Pteranodons were given a wide array of calls and vocalizations in Jurassic Park III, as well as an eerie, bird-like scream at the end of The Lost World. The movie creators used large bird sounds (including giant petrels) for the Pteranodons.

Portrayal
The Pteranodons in The Lost World were completely CGI, while in Jurassic Park III, they were portrayed by a combination of CGI and animatronics. The hatchlings were actually traditional puppets (although the ones shown flying are CGI).

Jurassic Park Adventures
In the novel Flyers, the pack of Pteranodons that is seen at the end of Jurassic Park III has reached Universal Studios in Florida end starts to terrorise the tourists. They drive all tourists into the central Lagoon to eat them after sunset.

The Pteranodons have a much greater body mass them their prehistoric counterparts, weighing 500-600 lbs. instead of 45 lbs. They're also much more intelligent. It is suggested that InGen probably wanted the Pteranodons to be able to do tricks in shows and therefore enhanced their intelligence.

Interaction with humans
In Jurassic Park III and Jurassic Park Adventures: Flyers, Pteranodons are shown to be extremely aggressive and to attack any human that enters their territory (the Canyon Aviary), just as the Cearadactylus did in the original Jurassic Park novel. However, while Cearadactylus seemed to attack humans out of territoriality, the Pteranodons in Jurassic Park III obviously see humans as suitable prey and attack them to eat them. This is implied by the presence of human bones in the Pteranodon nest and the fact that the adult Pteranodon threw Eric Kirby to the nest in order for its young to attack him.

Later in the movie, three adult Pteranodons are shown flying near several helicopters, but they ignore them completely (although the original script had the pterosaurs to attack the helicopter).

Other than the human remains of the Pteranodon nest, no fatal victims of Pteranodon are known in Jurassic Park III. They did, however, manage to almost kill Billy Brennan (who probably survived only because the river current dragged him out of the Canyon Aviary, where the Pteranodons could not follow him). In the script they do kill billy. A real Pteranodon living millions of years ago may not attack people, but this is unknown for sure.

Jurassic Park inspired games

 * Pteranodon appears as a background object in the videogame The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
 * It is encountered in all area's of Jurassic Park (arcade game)
 * It also appears in the Site B lab in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (arcade game). While you are on a zipline trying to reach the lab, Pteranodons attack you and you need to shoot them.
 * It is encountered in Chapter 3 of Jurassic Park III (arcade game).
 * Pterosaurus is an enemy in Jurassic Park III: Island Attack.
 * Pterosaurus is an enemy in Jurassic Park III: The DNA Factor.
 * It would appear in the planned game Jurassic Park: Survival.
 * Pteranodon can be created from paleo-DNA in the game Jurassic Park III: Park Builder.
 * It is one of the Carnivores that is featured in the game Jurassic Park III: Dino Defender
 * Pteranodon is one is the creatures that can be captured in the game Jurassic Park: Explorer. When a Pteranodon is captured this video will be shown. It also appears in a short clip flying above a river.
 * In Dinosaur Battles, a few Pteranodons appear, not playable though.

Comic books
Two Pteranodons attack the plane of Lex Murphy in Jurassic Park: Redemption I as she is flying over Costa Rica. Two armed aircrafts try to hunt the creatures away.

Exhibitions

 * A animatronic Pterosaur is shown in the T-Rex encounter attraction of the Jurassic Park Institute Tour.

Links

 * Pteranodon at wikipedia