The **Quetzalcoatlus** dinosaur has a really weird proposed head shape to body proportion. While online it says that it had a very hollow head and strong neck, wouldn’t it’s balance be offset and it would be really hard to move? I feel like the center of gravity is not condusive for anything. Could someone explain how it can have such a big and clunky head and still move fine?
In: Biology
How does a pelican fly?
YDAW has a [recent video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCdOVC7CcXk) on the morphology of Quetzalcoatlus (although it’s technically not a dinosaur). Although it’s above ELI5, the summary would be:
They had a long neck and big head to pluck food (small fish, amphibians, and mammals) from a wide area in front of them, kinda like storks do it these days.
They also had VERY powerful muscles in their forelimbs and (to a lesser degree) hind limbs, which means a lot of the weight was located centrally.
There’s also a section where they discuss the wing characteristics and how they would have to be shaped to balance the whole body in flight.
Picture a giraffe wearing a paper a long paper cone on its face. Or the trunk of an elephant holding a stick.
The neck is very strong and the head and beak are very light.
The look of the head is a bit misleading because [it’s mostly hollow](https://www.britannica.com/animal/Quetzalcoatlus), so it wasn’t as front heavy as you probably imagine.
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