TEMPO.CO, Liaoning - Tens of exotic flying reptiles in the 'Avatar' movie have inspired the scientists to name newly-discovered pterosaur ‘Ikrandaci avatar’, which means the ‘Ikran dragon' from 'Avatar'. The flying reptile fossils discovered in China is predicted to live on earth 120 million years ago and so closely resembled creatures from the 2009 film.
Paleontologist Xiaolin Wang of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, said Ikran and pterosaurs have similar throat pouch like that on pelicans.
It probably fed on small fish from freshwater lakes and may have stored the fish in the pouch the scientists added.
"The head structure is similar in this pterosaur to the Ikran in 'Avatar'," Xiaolin Wang said to Reuters.
Pterosaurs are known to be the first flying vertebrates on Earth that transform into birds and bats in the present time. The reptile lived about 220 million years ago to 65 million years ago before being wiped out by asteroids.
RINDU P. HESTYA | REUTERS