AI imageMatch with prompt
89% (8/9 items)
Where the image differs from the prompt
- The three small clawed fingers at the front of the wing are not clearly visibleShould be: Wings of skin stretched from a very long fourth finger to the ankle, three small clawed fingers at the front of each wing; not bat or feathered wings
See the checklist, prompt and sources
- ✓Giant, wingspan about 10–11 m, as tall as a giraffe when standing
- ✓Huge head, long straight pointed toothless beak, low crest, very long stiff straight neck
- ✓Walking on all fours, wings folded against the body, standing on the hands with the folded wing finger pointing up and back
- ✕Wings of skin stretched from a very long fourth finger to the ankle, three small clawed fingers at the front of each wing; not bat or feathered wingsThe three small clawed fingers at the front of the wing are not clearly visible
- ✓Very short tail
- ✓Head, neck and body covered in short hair-like fuzz (pycnofibres), not scales and not bird feathers
- ✓Whole animal visible in side view
- ✓Semi-arid Late Cretaceous floodplain in Texas, no grass
- ✓Only this one species; no dinosaurs, text, people or modern objects
Checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (checked item by item from the image) on Nov 3, 2026. The score is the share of checklist items the image gets right; it is not an expert scientific review.
Prompt used to create the image
Scientifically accurate paleoart of Quetzalcoatlus, a giant azhdarchid pterosaur (a flying reptile, not a dinosaur) from the latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian, about 68 million years ago) of Texas. Anatomy: a giant, wingspan about 10 to 11 m, as tall as a giraffe when standing; an enormous head with a long, straight, pointed toothless beak and a low crest, on a very long, stiff, straight neck; walking on all four limbs on the ground like a giant stork, wings folded tightly against the body, standing on the hands with the folded wing finger pointing up and back; wings are membranes of skin stretched from a hugely elongated fourth finger back to the ankle, with three small clawed fingers free at the front of each wing; not bat wings, not feathered wings; a very short tail; head, neck and body covered in short hair-like pycnofibres (fuzz), not scales and not bird feathers. Full body in side view, whole animal visible, stalking across a semi-arid Late Cretaceous floodplain in Texas, open ground with ferns, low shrubs and scattered conifers, no grass. Natural history museum illustration style, realistic textures and natural daylight, muted natural colors. Only this one species; no dinosaurs, no text, no labels, no humans, no boats, no modern objects.
Facts in the prompt come from Wikipedia (en) and Paleobiology Database
Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus was a giant pterosaur of Late Cretaceous North America that lived right up to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Modern estimates give it a wingspan of about 10–11 metres, among the largest flying animals known.
Who it is related to: The closest relatives of the dinosaurs, splitting off in the Triassic, but not dinosaurs, and not the ancestors of birds.
Fun facts
- It is named after Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god of the Aztecs.
- The first remains were found in Texas in 1971; Douglas Lawson named the animal in 1975.
- Early wingspan figures were much higher and came down as the proportions of its relatives became better known.
Dinosaurs from the same rocks
Quetzalcoatlus was found in the Javelina, which also holds these dinosaurs: the same region and broad span of time.
Bravoceratops
Alamosaurus
Torosaurus
Saurornitholestes
Kritosaurus
Formation data from the Paleobiology Database, counting only each genus's main formations. One formation can span hundreds of thousands to millions of years, so this doesn't mean any two of them ever met.
Scientific details
- Group
- Pterosaurs
- Family
- Azhdarchidae
- When it lived
- 66–72.2 million years ago
- Geologic stages
- Maastrichtian
- Named by
- Lawson, 1975
- Fossil occurrences
- 8 sites
Countries with fossils
- United States
Sources for the description and facts
Data from Paleobiology Database and Wikidata