00:04Quetzalcoatlus northropi or Q-northropi for short. It walked or rather flew around Earth
00:09around 67 million years ago. But how does a creature this big even get airborne? Well,
00:13according to a new study from the University of California Museum of Paleontology, it jumped.
00:19Q-northropi's wingspan is a massive 36 feet wide, which would seem ideal for flight. But it could
00:23also grow to nearly 33 feet tall, meaning it had a lot of body to move, which is why experts
00:28now
00:29believe the creatures would hop into the air, leaping up over eight feet into the sky before
00:32flapping their wings hard and taking off. Here's what paleontologist Kevin Padian had to say about
00:37the locomotive process. If they could jump twice their hip height to eight feet, the wings would be
00:42able to clear the ground and they could execute a deeper flight stroke, adding they would land like
00:46an airplane, slowing themselves with their wings as they approach the ground before touching down
00:50with its legs and then its arms. According to the experts, this is the first comprehensive study on
00:55the biomechanics of Q-northropi since it was first discovered 50 years ago.
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