Sculptor Uses AZ Fossils To Recreate 'Wonderfully Bizarre' Flying Reptiles

A sculptor used 150-million-year-old fossil evidence found in Arizona to recreate bird-like reptiles known as pterosaurs, reported The News & Observer. The end result looks very similar to a mystical dragon.

Pterosaurs were all different sizes, with the largest being as big as airplanes, and the smaller ones being around the size of a dog. The creatures have been referred to by National Geographic as "the weirdest wonder on wings."

Sculptor Catherine Danae Elser chose to recreate the smaller-sized creature.

Elser said, "These amazing creatures are wonderfully bizarre."

The Pterosaur was a reptile that was "closely related to dinosaurs."

Elser said it's so exciting that they actually existed. She said, "They really are like fictional beings, except the most exciting part is that they were real! These weird wonders on wings might not have looked exactly like my interpretation, but I think they are a lot more fantastical than we have even previously imagined."

Elser based her sculptures on evidence found at Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.

She stated, "I would love to think my interpretation is the most accurate to date, but I know that my medium alone, wool ,made some aspects of the pterosaurs a little bulkier than it might have been."

Elser's sculptures are on display at Petrified Forest National Park.

Photo: Getty Images