It was huge news when the first bone from a pterosaur in Denmark was found at Stevns Klint in the fall of 2024. Now the bone is part of the exhibition at Geomuseum Faxe.
Both the national and international press reported the news when the first evidence that pterosaurs had lived in Denmark was discovered at Stevns Klint in the fall of 2024.
The find was a 4.5 mm-long bone fragment from the finger of a small pterosaur that had a wingspan of 30–40 cm. Due to the find’s exceptional significance, it had to be thoroughly examined and scientifically described. The examinations are now complete, and the small bone fragment is on display at the Geomuseum Faxe.
– This is a tiny yet very significant discovery that we can now present. The bone fragment is the first evidence that pterosaurs lived in what later became Denmark. It was also found in the very top layer of the Cretaceous, which tells us that this pterosaur lived during the last 50,000 years of the Cretaceous Period, 66 million years ago, and that it was among the very last pterosaurs on Earth,” says Jesper Milàn.
The bone fragment has its own display case, which is equipped with a magnifying glass so that visitors can see this small but significant piece of history up close. The model of the pterosaur has been kindly loaned by 10 Tons, a company that creates models of prehistoric animals.
Geomuseum Faxe is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free for children.
Facts about pterosaurs:
Flying lizards, or pterosaurs, were a group of reptiles related to crocodiles and dinosaurs that had developed the ability to fly.
Their wings were constructed in a completely unique way, as one of their fingers had become extremely elongated and supported a membrane of skin that they used to fly.
Pterosaurs first appeared as a group of animals back in the middle of the Triassic period, about 245 million years ago, and they were the undisputed rulers of the skies until the end of the Cretaceous period, when they became extinct along with the large dinosaurs.
Pterosaurs came in all sizes, ranging from tiny specimens no larger than a sparrow to giants with a wingspan of over 12 meters. The bone found at Stevns comes from the innermost joint of the elongated “wing finger” of a small pterosaur that was not much larger than a small seagull.