Dinosaur Museum Altmuehltal exhibits real Dracula (FOTO)

Denkendorf (ots) -

The special pterodactyl exhibition "Emperors of the Skies"
presents a pterosaur with a physique that is different from other
previously-known species. Well-preserved remains show that this is
the largest and most robust pterodactyl ever found.

The special pterosaur exhibition "Emperors of the Skies" presented
by the Altmuehltal Dinosaur Museum features 24 important exhibits
from the Altmuehl Jurassic along with a sensational find from
Transylvania. Nicknamed "Dracula" because of its origin in
Transylvania, this pterosaur has a physique that is different from
other previously known species. Because of its excellently preserved
remains, researchers conclude that it is the most powerful
pterodactyl ever excavated. "The carpal bone alone was larger than
that of a mammoth, and the neck was the width of a full-grown man,"
says paleontologist Mátyás Vremir, member of the Transylvanian Museum
Society. He discovered the first bone on a steep slope near the
Romanian town of Sebes in 2009.

Scientists estimate Dracula's weight to be at least half a ton and
its wingspan at more than 12 meters. "The pterodactyl may have had a
wingspan of up to 20 meters, and standing upright, it was probably as
tall as a giraffe," says Mark Norell, Curator, Division Chair and
Professor Division of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural
History in New York. Norell was involved in the excavations in
Romania.

"No large predators were found in the region around the site,
which was probably a subtropical island landscape in the Cretaceous
period. We assume that he was at the top of the food chain," explains
Raimund Albersdörfer, an excavator and geologist who was involved and
financed the work for many years. Like T. rex that ruled another
continent at the same time, "Dracula" was a witness and victim of the
mass extinction of dinosaurs.

"This sensation underscores the Dinosaur Museum Altmuehltal's
claim to be one of the world's most important exhibition venues for
prehistoric times," says museum founder Michael Völker. The "Emperors
of the Skies" exhibition is open from March 23 to November 4, 2018.

Press materials along with cost/license-free TV footage are
available from the following download link: http://ots.de/Vj6QTS

Contact:
Stephanie Strauss
presse@dinopark-bayern.de
+498920206717

Original-Content von: Dinosaurier Museum Altmühltal, übermittelt durch news aktuell