Attacked by Giant Pterosaur? (Not Urgent)

Factual Questions
1

Would an unarmed human have any chance against one of the big pterosaurs like Quetzalcoatlus if it decided to attack? Let’s just say that one of the beasties is “fast-forwarded” through time to the present day. Hungry and confused, the soaring saurian swoops down upon the nearest likely meal, which happens to be an averagely-built man. Is the guy going to get pierced by that monster of a beak, or will he be able to fend off the attack?

Here is the giant flying beast :

That one might be just a bit too big for an ordinary fellow. What about the pteranodon? When I was a kid, this was billed as the biggest pterosaur :

So, does a man have a fighting chance against this time-travelin’ beastie?

Any thoughts, opinions, etc. would be appreciated…

2

Ever watch a heron eat a fish?

Quetalcoatlus would snatch you up, turn you around head first, and gobble you into her gullet.

3

Theoden told me it’s no fun: Eowyn meets the Witch King of Angmar - YouTube

4

I would give the human a fighting chance, but mostly because he’s going to be quicker on his feet than the pterosaurs and able to pick things up to throw or wield as a weapon/shield.

The bill may be very impressive in size, but it doesn’t seem designed for piercing a large prey animal - rather, for picking up smaller animals or fish like a modern-day stork. So I don’t know how much damage it would really do to a person. I’m imagining something painful rather than lethal, but I might be wrong on that point.

Furthermore, while the size and wingspan of these pterosaurs is very impressive, they were not particularly heavy. (Wikipedia says probably 200-250kg for the quetzalcoatlus, but possibly as little as 70kg, and 20-90 kg for the pteranodon). This means that the man isn’t so terribly outclassed as the lengths/heights alone would suggest, and it means that many parts of the pterosaurs will be pretty flimsy.

5

Carry your spear sideways to jam in its throat.

6

Smack it on the nose with a newspaper; it’ll go away.

7

And say “Bad Giant Pterosaur! Bad!”

8

No, that didn’t look fun at all.

9

You’re probably right. I do wonder what the largest prey item of something like quetzalcoatlus would be…

10

Much better than **Attacked by Giant Pterosaur? (Need Answer Fast) **

11

Well, I didn’t want everybody to panic, or anything like that.

12

That’s how I think of them, too. These are creatures that sacrifice a lot of strength to be light. I don’t think they’d stand up to a human that was struggling – the wings and neck are easy points to attack.

13

You’ve never been attacked by an angry cockatiel.

14

Good point! Could living things designed for flight actually become more flimsy as they scale up? I wonder…

15

A goose can supposedly sometimes break somebody’s arm with its wings. I imagine these things could do so easily.

16

Oh, yeah, that’s right! Forgot about those crazy geese…

17

The key is to carry chocolate - preferably dark. Pteranodons love chocolate.

Then, you can take her back to your Secret Underground Base under the Millenium Centre. Let her fly free there, there’s plenty of room, and she should get along fine with you and your teammates, but be sure that you flavor “things-the-Pteranodon-may-eat” with a special barbecue sauce, so she knows what’s OK and what isn’t.

It’s important not to get any of the barbecue sauce on your girlfriend, though…

18

Unless you just get tired of her, of course.

19

You know, looking atthis paintingby Mark Witton, I can picture that. And that’s not Quetzalcoatlus, it’s something slightly smaller.

20

Just FYI, there is documentary footage of what happens when Quetzalcoatl attacks a human.