SCIENCE
Read about other “flying monsters” here.
Teachers, scroll all the way down for a short list of key resources in our “Teachers’ Toolkit.”

Illustration by Shizuka Aoki, National Geographic
Discussion Ideas
- The name of the world’s biggest flying bird is Pelagornis sandersi. “Pelagornis” simply means “pelagic” or “pelagic bird.” (“The most unimaginative name ever applied to a fossil,” (p. 197) according to the world’s leading avian (bird) paleontologist.) What do you think “sandersi” means? Why do you think scientists gave the bird that name?
- Sandersi simply honors Albert Sanders of the Charleston Museum, who uncovered the skull, wing, and leg bones of the bird in South Carolina in 1983.
- Biologists and paleontologists bestow such honors all the time! Angelina Jolie is a spider! Lady Gaga is a fern! Queen Bey is fly!
- Click here to read about how another, even more ancient flier (Vectidraco daisymorrisae) was named after 9-year-old fossil hunter Daisy Morris. Great story.
- What type of creature would you want named after you? (Me? I hope there is some new species of kingfisher that could be named Ceryle susiqueue.)
- Vectidraco daisymorrisae was a pterosaur, a type of flying reptile related to dinosaurs. Read about these “Flying Monsters” here. Was Pelagornis sandersi a pterosaur?
- No! Pterosaurs lived millions of years before Pelagornis sandersi and other birds.
- Was Pelagornis sandersi as big as a pterosaur?
- No! Pterosaurs were much, much larger than Pelagornis sandersi. Pterosaurs, such as Hatzegopteryx and Quetzalcoatlus, had wingspans of more than 30 feet (9 meters). Click here to learn more about Quetzalcoatlus.

Illustration by Jaime A Headden, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-3.0
- Take a look at this gorgeous illustration of the skull of Pelagornis sandersi. Why do you think paleontologists say these birds have “pseudo-teeth” and not “teeth”? Pseudo means “almost, but not quite.”
- Those bony, pointed projections aren’t teeth—they don’t grow in, fall out, or rot away. The points are a part of the bird’s skull, what the illustrator of the drawing calls a “serrated jaw.”
- What do you think those jaws chomped into, 25 million years ago? (Hint: What do the seabirds of today eat?)
- Fish! Those pointy pseudoteeth probably helped the soaring giant hang on to the slippery, squirmy fish (or fishy cousins) of the Miocene.
TEACHERS TOOLKIT
Nat Geo Kids: World’s biggest flying seabird lived 25 million years ago
Nat Geo collection: Flying Monsters 3D Education
Nat Geo glossary:
pelagic
paleontologist
pterosaur
Miocene