Prehistoric Life

Despite being featured alongside dinosaurs in popular media, pterosaurs were not dinosaurs. They were archosaurs — the same broad group that includes dinosaurs and crocodilians — but evolved flight independently on their own lineage. The first pterosaur appeared around 228 million years ago. The largest, Quetzalcoatlus, had a wingspan of up to 10–11 metres and stood as tall as a giraffe, making it the largest known flying animal in Earth's history.

Non-avian dinosaurs first appeared around 230–240 million years ago in the Triassic period and went extinct 66 million years ago. That means they ruled Earth for approximately 165 million years — compared to modern humans, who have existed for only about 300,000 years. To put it in perspective, T. rex and Stegosaurus are separated by more time than T. rex and us.