Pteranodon longiceps

Where in the World?

Pteranodon was a creature of the vast Western Interior Seaway that covered the middle of North America from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico during the Late Cretaceous period. Bones of Pteranodon have been found in the United States and Canada. No pterosaurs anywhere in the world survived the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous, and by that time the Western Interior Seaway had receded, no longer covering the heartland of North America.

The first fossil bones of Pteranodon were found in western Kansas in the early 1870s. At that time, Kansas was truly the "wild west", and field parties were highly armed and often escorted by U.S. Army Cavalry for their protection from bandits and hostile Cheyenne. A first-person account of the field expedition can be found in Harper's New Monthly Magazine (volume 43, pages 663-671).

Photo A - Erosion in the Smoky Hill Chalk.		Photo B - The formation that is known as the Cobra.

The gorgeous, eroding landscape of the Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Chalk harbours a treasure-trove of fossils from the Late Cretaceous period. Our collection includes several fine fish and pterosaur fossil specimens from this area of what is now Kansas. Photo A shows erosion that has carved a vertical face 18-21 m high. Known locally as the Cobra, the distinct landmark shown in photo B reaches approximately 10 m.