Pterosaurs like birds, were capable of powered flight. It seems that command of the skies is not the only thing that these two types of vertebrate had in common. Thanks to a remarkable series of discoveries from the remote Turpan-Hami Basin located in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (north-western China), palaeontologists have learned that Pterosaurs, like many living birds nested in colonies, that they had preferred nesting sites and when young, Pterosaurs needed a degree of parental care, just like many species of birds today.
Significantly, the number of eggs discovered are far too many to have been laid by a single female. This suggests that these flying reptiles nested in colonies and furthermore, the overlaying of multiple clutches of eggs indicates that Pterosaurs, like many birds today, returned to the same nesting sites each year. As the authors conclude, “the similarity between these groups goes beyond wings”.
The study:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aan2329
The scientific paper: “Egg Accumulation with 3D Embryos Provides Insight into the Life History of a Pterosaur”
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