A new kind of a winged lizard was found in China and it resemble to the flying creature used in the movie Avatar. The fossil was unearthed in the province of Liaoning.
The creature belong to the order Pterosauria and called Ikrandraco, etymologically based on the fictional flying creature in Avatar and Draco for Dragon. As a Pterosaur, meaning "winged lizard", it has a wingspan of about 2.5 meter (8 feet). Pterosaurs once roamed over the Earth 120 million years ago.
The head structure is similar in this pterosaur to the Ikran in 'Avatar,'" said one of the researchers, paleontologist Xiaolin Wang of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.
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| Ikran in Avatar. All images and clips of Avatar are exclusive property of 20th Century Fox. Photo Source: http://www.tree-of-souls.com/pandora/1894-post_your_hd_pictures_of_pandoras_flora_and-2.html |
Although this kind of flying reptile exist 120 million years ago, it does not mean that the blue humanoid people called Na'vi in the movie Avatar lived on Earth as well. As Paleontologist Wang said, "Of course, nobody and nothing can ride this pterosaur". One of the researchers joked: "Please, (there were) no blue hominids during the Cretaceous," added paleontologist Alexander Kellner of Brazil's National Museum at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
The complete report was published in Science Journal. It has a detailed information, description, and photographs of the specimen.
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