Ancient 'Toothy Pelican' Looks Like it Came Straight Out of the Movies

A newly discovered species of pterosaur has been named after the dragon-like creatures from the visually stunning 2009 movie Avatar, as it happens to sport s similar skull to the four-winged creatures of the sci-fi blockbuster.

Of course, the pterosaur Ikrandraco avatar doesn't boast four wings and a mind-melding appendage like in the movies. Instead the wide crests which characterize the movie creature and the pterosaur suggest that I. avatar glided over the water with two wide wings, using he crest on its lower jaw to cut through water as it skimmed for fish - much like a modern-day pelican.

The lower crest come complete with a hook-like appendage, which experts believe supported an extendable throat pouch.

Two incomplete specimens of I. avatar were recently found in the Jiufotang geological formation of northeast China - a treasure trove of fossils dating back to about 120 million years ago (during the Cretaceous era).

Analysis of the specimens and complimenting theories were detailed in a recently study published in the journal Scientific Reports.

According to the study's authors, the pouch would have allowed the pterosaur to store its catch to enable it to continue hunting, or possibly to help it expel any water scooped up with its prey.

"It is hard to say if all pterosaurs are good fliers, but this new pterosaur must be a good flier," Xiaolin Wang, who led the study, told National Geographic.

He believes that the I. avatar would have had to have grace and control in flight in order to properly skim the waters like a modern pelican, especially with wide and fleshy wings.

However, not everyone is convinced. Pterosaur experts Mark Witton, Richard Bonser, and David Martill wrote up an analysis in 2007 that details exactly how and why it is extremely unlikely that any pterosaur skimmed for food.

"Just because a component of an extinct animal resembles that of a living one does not necessarily imply that both were used for the same task," the authors write. (Scroll to read on...)

And while this newest fossil seems the best suited for the task yet, it still is a long way away from being conclusive evidence.

"Modern animals show us that flying relatively low over the water to catch prey is a successful ecological strategy, but they do this without any bizarre crest trawling," Witton told National Geographic.

Additionally he and his colleagues argued that skimming is considerably more energetically costly than previously thought for the average pterosaur, and ones weighing more than one kilogram would not have been able to skim at all.

While it is known that Ikrandraco avatar was about 30 inches long (75 cm) its weight remains a mystery, leaving the pterosaur's feeding strategy still very much open to debate.