Holotypes are a singular specimen upon which a new species’ name and description are based. Discovery made after reassessing 30-year-old Alberta fossilĪs fictitious as this creature may sound, it’s now officially been described as a distinct species. Their ability to fly is believed by researchers to have been an escape mechanism, but they also think they may have been able to fly thousands of miles, covering large stretches of North America. Food-wise, they probably favoured lizards, baby dinos, and small mammals. They had huge heads, huge necks and long, wispy bodies covered in fine downy plumage like that seen on baby birds.”Ĭryodrakon boreas‘s strange anatomy meant it was primarily composed of head and neck, and it would have searched around on land to hunt in spite of its massive wingspan.

“If you stood next to a giraffe at a zoo and stretched its face about twice as long and bolted extra finger joints to its front legs, you’ve basically got it. “They’re kind of built like a giraffe,” said lead author David Hone to NBC News. That’s three times the wingspan of a wandering albatross, the current record holder. Cryodrakon boreas, a name that translates to “frozen dragon of the north wind”, had a wingspan of up to 10 metres. The remarkably preserved specimen tells us a lot about its unique anatomy. Researchers believe they have discovered one of the biggest flying animals to have ever existed via fossilized remains found in Canada. The strange and monstrous creature, a type of pterosaur, weighed over 200 kilograms and lived around 77 million years ago.

Dragon of the north canada