The wording 'flying reptile' instead of 'pterosaur' makes me think...

[Xionahri]

Anyone notice that that whenever the inhabitants of the aviary in general are mentioned, they are called 'flying reptiles' or 'aerial reptiles' instead of 'pterosaurs'. With e mariene reptiles it makes sense, there are a lot of different groups that evolved an aquatic lifestyle independent from each other. This is not the case with the pterosaurs. While incredibly diverse, they are just that: pterosaurs. But they were not the only flying reptiles back then...

What if Frontier is foreshadowing the addition of flying dinosaurs? It's add to the diversity of life and would be a neat little to bring some feathered theropods in.

The main problem is that most flying dinosaurs were, and are, fairly small. As far as I know, the biggest one known so far that may have been flight-capable was changyuraptor, and that one was about the length of a compy. However, we're dealing with inGen here, so who says these animals weren't genetically engineered to be bigger? If not, changyu could still fill the niche of a compy-esque small animal within the aviaries.

If we get the the 'this, but bigger' approach, popular animals like archaeopteryx, microraptor, bambiraptor, and even yi would be some neat possibilites.


Another point is that many of those animals likely have been rather poor flyers, especially archaeopteryx and yi, but honsestly, the same is said about dimorphodon, even mentioned in the species field guide, and she flies just fine. So I'd argue that's a non-issue that can once again be chalked up to the magic of genetic manipulation.



What do you think? And do you have any more flying dinosaurs that you'd like to see?

 

[gabeluna27]

I think it’s just their informal generic term for the pterosaurs without getting too complicated or technical. They do use the term “reptiles” when grouping the flyers and aquatics together without putting them under the term “dinosaurs”.

 

[Ashaantha]

It's because people got upset when they called them flying dinosaurs so they used the more appropriate flying reptiles. Same reason they call the swimming ones aquatic reptiles, just to differentiate them as a group.

 

[Tyrannoraptor75]

All right! Sharovipteryx

 

[Xionahri]

All right! SharovipteryxView attachment 262034

That beautiful creature is great too. However it was a glider, so animating it looking natural in the aviary would be a challenge. Imagining it flapping its legs is kinda funny though.

I think it could have a good place in a DLC themed around very odd and unusual animals. Because there is and was a lot of that in nature.

 

[Jens Erik]

We call them "flying reptiles" to help avoid confusion, basically. It's not given that everyone understands what we mean when we say "pterosaur".

It also saves characters on Twitter: "marine and flying reptiles" is shorter than "marine reptiles and pterosaurs".

 

[Tyrannoraptor75]

We call them "flying reptiles" to help avoid confusion, basically. It's not given that everyone understands what we mean when we say "pterosaur".

It also saves characters on Twitter: "marine and flying reptiles" is shorter than "marine reptiles and pterosaurs".

I understand, but am also dissapointed.

 

[Xionahri]

We call them "flying reptiles" to help avoid confusion, basically. It's not given that everyone understands what we mean when we say "pterosaur".

It also saves characters on Twitter: "marine and flying reptiles" is shorter than "marine reptiles and pterosaurs".

Thanks for the response. That is certainly a valid reason. But still, the opening is there, so it might be something that could be considered in the future. This is the suggestion and idea forum here, after all.

All in all I can't say that I'm too disappointed, it was just a little thing I thought about that could be fun. That, and pterosaurs by themselves are already pretty neat as they are. (But so are small flying dinosaurs...)

 

[gabeluna27]

We call them "flying reptiles" to help avoid confusion, basically. It's not given that everyone understands what we mean when we say "pterosaur".

It also saves characters on Twitter: "marine and flying reptiles" is shorter than "marine reptiles and pterosaurs".

Just as I have suspected, about not getting “too technical” that is.

 

[Thylaco]

That beautiful creature is great too. However it was a glider, so animating it looking natural in the aviary would be a challenge. Imagining it flapping its legs is kinda funny though.

I think it could have a good place in a DLC themed around very odd and unusual animals. Because there is and was a lot of that in nature.

It's also tiny, about 10cm long, gliders tend to have the small size problem, so they're more a tiny pre-made exhibit sort of thing.

Largest ancient glider I know is Kuehneosuchus at potentially 70cm long with a 40cm wingspan, it seems similar in size to typical mammal gliders alive today.

 

[Xionahri]

It's also tiny, about 10cm long, gliders tend to have the small size problem, so they're more a tiny pre-made exhibit sort of thing.

Largest ancient glider I know is Kuehneosuchus at potentially 70cm long with a 40cm wingspan, it seems similar in size to typical mammal gliders alive today.

I don't think size is that much of an issue. It's not like the franchise is consistent with the sizes of the real animals, or even with the sizes given already within the franchise. Let's just take a look at that famous mosasaur image:

Yeah, I don't know. At least Frontier has made efforts in the past to have somewhat accurate sizes within the game. Still overall I see size as no point of objection. Genentic manipulation can do anything in this franchise.

 

[Thylaco]

I don't think size is that much of an issue. It's not like the franchise is consistent with the sizes of the real animals, or even with the sizes given already within the franchise. Let's just take a look at that famous mosasaur image:

Yeah, I don't know. At least Frontier has made efforts in the past to have somewhat accurate sizes within the game. Still overall I see size as no point of objection. Genentic manipulation can do anything in this franchise.

True, the Compsognathus from Return to Jurassic Park is about double size at 1m long and the original rex was a fair bit bigger than the current 13.5m long.

I feel like upscaling things too much is probably something to avoid (double or triple size is understandable, but 8-10 times the size gives a very different idea of these animals I think). With the Mosasaurus, for the movies it is very much just whatever size they need it to be for a scene, so even in the same film it's various sizes.

 

[Dark_Ansem]

We call them "flying reptiles" to help avoid confusion, basically. It's not given that everyone understands what we mean when we say "pterosaur".

It also saves characters on Twitter: "marine and flying reptiles" is shorter than "marine reptiles and pterosaurs".

Is the difference going to appear in the game as well?

 

[Thylaco]

Is the difference going to appear in the game as well?

In the demo the youtubers got, it says dinosaur in all the hatchery types, a bit weird, you'd think it'd be reptile.

 

[Xionahri]

In the demo the youtubers got, it says dinosaur in all the hatchery types, a bit weird, you'd think it'd be reptile.

Given how the inevitable Dominion DLC will likely introduce one or two synapsids to the game, 'animal' would be the more neutral option here.

Or, even better, in true JW fashion the word 'asset' could be used. This to me feels like the best option.

 

[TheMightyMegalosaurus]

Just give us Archaeopteryx as a small animal option for the aviary and I'll be happy.

 

[Ashaantha]

Just give us Archaeopteryx as a small animal option for the aviary and I'll be happy.

This a million times. I would love to have some Archaeopteryx! nothing wrong with small species, we could use more for diversity!

 

[Xionahri]

This a million times. I would love to have some Archaeopteryx! nothing wrong with small species, we could use more for diversity!

Archaeopteryx normally was about 50cm in length. Half the length of a compy and about the height of a crow. It definitly would need to be embiggend a little, because it's really tiny otherwise.