Jurassic Park Wiki


1,540pages on
this wiki
"Oh my God. It's a birdcage."
Alan Grant(src)

Name meaning

"Toothless wing"

Code name

Flyer, Ptera, Skewer, Steel Beak, or Ptero




2 meters (6 feet)


9-10 meters (30-33 feet)


40 kilograms


Isla Sorna
Isla Nublar (in early games)

Birth type


Film appearances

The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park III (mutant)

Comic appearances

Jurassic Park: Redemption I Jurassic Park: The Devils in the Desert

Adventures appearances

Jurassic Park Adventures: Flyers

Toy appearances

Jurassic Park Series 1
Die-Cast: Jurassic Park
The Lost World Series 1
Jurassic Park III (Hasbro)
Jurassic Park III (Kaiyodo)
Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs
Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs 2
Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs 3

This information was shown on the (removed) Jurassic Park Institute site.

Pteranodon is a very massive flying reptile. When it spread its wings, it could reach from the front to the back of a school bus. Just imagine something that big flying around. It didn't have feathers, but rather had a basal type of integument along the same lineage that feathers evolved upon called pycnofibers. Pycnofibers were very hair-like in appearance and, like hair, were made of keratin.

Members of the order Pterosauria lived through much of the Mesozoic, some species of pterosaurs with wingspans close to 11 m (36 feet). Pteranodon, as you can tell by the translation of its name, had no teeth. It probably used the long crest on the back of its head to help it steer while flying. There is still some debate about whether these reptiles could actually fly or if they were primarily gliders, but the consensus seems to be that they could take off with little or no wind. It also did not have teeth, something portrayed (it having teeth) in the movie.

Their diet was probably fish and scavenged remains of dead animals. Quite a few Pteranodon skeletons have been found in Kansas in the central part of the U.S. This would have been the shore of a shallow sea when these creatures were alive, supporting the theory that they were fish eaters.[1]

Wikipedia has a more detailed and comprehensive article on Pteranodon

Portrayal Edit


The Pteranodons in Jurassic Park III are depicted correctly with regards to their size (paleontologists claim that the largest species had a wingspan up to 10 m (33ft) wide, being the size of a small aircraft), as well as their quadrupedal gait. They are, however, shown incorrectly to have teeth, stemming from unknown mutation. Paleontologists believe that Pteranodons could not lift prey with their feet, simply because their feet were not designed to grasp; instead, they caught most of their prey with their large beaks. They also lack the fur-like pycnofiberous integument that all true pterosaurs had.

The number of eggs or young that Pteranodons could have in one single brood is unknown; however, the movie correctly portrays pterosaurs as being able to fly from a very early age, like real pterosaurs. All Pteranodons in Jurassic Park III are shown to have long crests of about the same size, when in real life, only Pteranodon males would have had large crests, with females having smaller ones. Jurassic Park Pteranodon suffer from the same level of accuracy that plagues most pop cultural depictions of pterosaurs: it basically is "stuck in the 70's", being depicted as a naked, leathery creature instead of the warm-blooded, almost bird-like animals that real pterosaurs were. In the second movie, they are depicted as bipedal and with bird-like necks, while real pterosaurs were quadrupedal and had rigid, thick necks like those of mammals. The third movie fixes these errors, though it depicts them with grasping, bird-like feet.


Pteranodons were given a wide array of calls and vocalizations in Jurassic Park III, as well as an eerie, bird-like scream at the end of The Lost World which was created using a generic screech from Gary Rydstom taking out toothfloss from his teeth. The movie creators used large bird sounds (including giant petrels) for the Pteranodons. Voice actor Frank Welker also lent his voice for some of the vocals. In many of the Jurassic Park games the Pteranodon's calls vary and are not based on their sounds used in the films in most Jurassic Park III games the calls are basically comprised of sounds from a Red-tailed Hawk. While in Jurassic Park: The Game the Pteranodon's calls are comprised from sounds of Vultures.

Interaction with humansEdit


Jurassic Park novelsEdit

IMG 5415
Novel with Pteranodon
BastionMonkAdded by BastionMonk

Pteranodons were not present in the first and second Jurassic Park novels. Instead the first novel portrayed only one species of pterosaur, the Cearadactylus, which is somewhat smaller, being featured in the park's Aviary.

A group of Pteranodons is shown at the back of Barnes & Noble's Novel bundle , some of which have tails, others without.

Film canonEdit

Pteranodon TG2
Pteranodons in Jurassic Park: The Game.
BastionMonkAdded by BastionMonk

In the film canon however, Pteranodon was ultimately chosen instead of Cearadactylus, probably because of its larger size, more spectacular/impressive appearance and massive popularity with audiences.

Steven Spielberg did not want to have the Cearadactylus in the first Jurassic Park film, as he previously felt that the aviary scene exactly described in the novel would have been too expensive and complicated to recreate, resulting in this scene being among the first to be automatically scrapped from the filming schedule. Certain scenes when Grant and the kids travel down the river were filmed, but also quickly scrapped.

Jurassic Park: The Game Edit

Pteranodon also appears in Jurassic Park: The Game. A small flock of them is briefly seen flying alongside a cliff at the start of scenario Flyover. Later, in the scenario Chopper Down! one attacks the mercenary's chopper.

It is surprising that they are seen having free run of the island. This flock probably escaped from the Isla Nublar Aviary after the power went down. However, the fact that they are based off their much later appearance in Jurassic Park III.

While they're based off their JPIII appearance, their sounds were different. While the JPIII Pteranodons made a range of vocalizations, from screams to hisses to soft clucks, the Pteranodons in JP: The Game made only a raspy squawking sound, similar to that of a vulture which might make them almost, but not fully grown yet.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park Edit

Jhayk' SulliyAdded by Jhayk' Sulliy
Jhayk' SulliyAdded by Jhayk' Sulliy

Later in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Spielberg wanted to show an action sequence called "Air Attack" which has a team of gatherers running away from a pack of Velociraptors and leaping off a cliff with hang gliders from their backpacks. However, while they are safely flying in the air they are attacked by Geosternbergia or Pteranodons. Once again, the idea was ultimately abandoned (although conceptual art for both animals as well as maquettes for Pteranodons exist for that film). Another action sequence was developed but was also cut, where Pteranodons were attacking the rescue chopper. The second film does depict the Pteranodon in its final version though at the very end of the film, several are shown flying above the Stegosaurus herd and in the sky while one of them is shown briefly up close.

Pteranodon as seen in The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Vc24Added by Vc24

This Pteranodon is shown to be of a very lean body build with an S shaped neck and a slender, hook ended beak. It is also shown to perch on a tree the same way a bird would, which would be very impossible for the real live animal, as Pteranodon never have grasping feet and was only a quadruped when it landed. The Pteranodons in The Lost World were based on a species called Pteranodon longiceps. Originally Steven Spielberg wanted to use Geosternbergia, but changed the animal at the last minute, probably for the more straight and elegant crest of the P. longiceps. The concept art for Geosternbergia can still be seen.

Jurassic Park III Edit

Brainy1130Added by Brainy1130
In Jurassic Park III, they do not appear but are replaced by mutant untrue Pteranodon quarantined in the Isla Sorna Aviary. Director Joe Johnston had the species re-designed for this film. They were shown as being larger, more robust and different colored than the ones shown at the end of The
Pteranodon sihouette. (Jurassic Park III)
LythronaxAdded by Lythronax
Lost World
. They also lack a hooked bill, but have rows of dinosaur-like teeth on their mouths (something real-life Pteranodons never have).

In Jurassic Park III, the main characters enter, unknowingly, a massive bird cage in a river canyon, containing four mutant adult Pteranodons and a nest filled with precocious, voracious hatchlings. 13-year-old Eric Kirby is snatched by one of them and thrown to the nest to serve as food for the young, but Billy Brennan manages to save him. He however, ends up being attacked himself, and is brutally mauled and severely injured by them. Later when they escape the bird cage, the Kirbys accidentally leave the cage's door open, the Pteranodons might have escaped the aviary through this door. They are briefly seen at the end of the film, heading for "new nesting grounds". It is unknown whether the adults abandoned their chicks or were simply exploring the island's surroundings, perhaps planning for a future, actual escape.

Jurassic Park III Alpha Male Pteranodon
The Male Pteranodon of JPIII
Sir CharlesAdded by Sir Charles

Jurassic Park AdventuresEdit



All creatures have a name:

  • Elder: the patriarch of the group
  • Fire: Flood's mate, a strong and powerful creature. With his crimson markings he looks like the fiery dawn.
  • Spike: young.
  • Trip: young.

The Pteranodons have a much greater body mass them their prehistoric counterparts, weighing 500-600 lbs. instead of 45 lbs. They're also much more intelligent. It is suggested that InGen probably wanted the Pteranodons to be able to do tricks in shows and therefore enhanced their intelligence.

Pteranodon were also mentioned in the first book where Eric witnesses a Tyrannosaurus killing one.

Jurassic Park inspired gamesEdit

Pteranodon from Jurassic Park III: Park Builder.
Zakor1138Added by Zakor1138
Giant Pteranodon from Jurassic Park III: Park Builder.

Jurassic Park: Explorer Edit


Comic booksEdit

Zakor1138Added by Zakor1138


The Pteranodons appeared in Jurassic Park: The Devils in the Desert, killing people, and at one point, a horse.  The Pteranodons were all killed, the last one killed in a zoo by a polar bear.

Jurassic Park ToysEdit


Other figures have appeared in:

Gallery Edit



  • It has appeared in the background in film adaption of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, even though that it was said they first appeared in Jurassic Park III.


Picture in infobox was made by the Jurassic Park Institute.


  1. Dinopedia on the JPI site
The Lost World: Jurassic Park Dinosaurs
CompsognathusCorythosaurusEdmontosaurusGallimimusMamenchisaurusPachycephalosaurusParasaurolophusStegosaurusTriceratopsTyrannosaurus rexVelociraptor
Jurassic Park III Dinosaurs
AnkylosaurusBaryonyxBrachiosaurusCeratosaurusCompsognathusCorythosaurusParasaurolophusPteranodonSpinosaurusStegosaurusSuchomimusTyrannosaurus rexVelociraptor
Advertisement | Your ad here

Around Wikia's network

Random Wiki