Pteranodon Longiceps Study

Yeah, I probably should have gotten a better look at the specimens before I started this...
This is really less about the creature, though, and more about the concepts surrounding it and pterosaurs in general. For instance, most general artists depict them rather simply- with bland skin colors, flimsy wing membranes, hairless, and without much on the bones. However, pterosaurs, including our dear friend Pteranodon, were much more bizarre than that or, really, anything humans could think of on their own. Let me explain:

• We'd like to think of prehistoric animals with more familiar, mammalian color schemes with dull browns, yellows, and grays. Oddly enough, mammals only evolved those colors because all of the more noticeable, brighter colors were weeded out by carnivorous archosaurs. This means that reptiles like crocodilians, pterosaurs, and dinosaurs were more likely adorned with vibrant, attractive colors as evidence by their descendants, the birds.
• Evidence suggests that pterosaurs had fur-like pycnofibers covering their body. Their origin and usage is not entirely known, but it may have been used to regulate body temperature.
• It's often assumed and portrayed that the wing was structured like a loose fabric, not dissimilar to modern bats. That structure, though reasonable to assume, could not support the weight of the animals in the air, especially in the case of the larger Anzhdarchid classifications. Instead, they were formed of a complex pattern of overlapping tendons, fibers, and blood vessels to create a semi-muscular spectacle of biological engineering.
• Recent reports on their jaw structures have caused speculation of the genus Pteranodon having a pelican-like pouch. (Pictured above)

Fore everything you never wanted to know about prehistoric flying animals, this is Th'Den Wheja Productions!

Rendered in Photoshop