Pterodactyls (also simply known as Pterodacts or Pteradons) are a species of flying dinosaurs which existed during the Stone Age featured in the franchise of The Flintstones. They were a very important part of caveman society, almost as important as brontosauruses and mammoths in terms of usefulness.
Background
A Wild pterodactyl mother preparing her baby for flight in "The Big Bank Robbery".
Pterodactyls were winged dinosaurs with a prominent crest on their heads. Their size could range from being gigantic enough to overshadow buildings to being tiny enough to fit in one's hand.
A Ptrans Pterodactyl Airlines plane with pterodactyl engines from Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby.
They also came in a wide range of colors, ranging from purple, brown, green, yellow, white, blue, black, red or any other color imaginable. Some breeds even had incredibly long legs or sharp and/or pointy beaks (occasionally with teeth). Some would either have scaly bodies or bodies covered in feathers, making them resemble birds. A few though would strangely lack the characteristic crest, making them look even more like birds.
Uses
A farm-raised pterodactyl laying fresh eggs at the super market, featured in the episode, "Kleptomaniac Pebbles".
Their uses in the modern Stone Age were as many as those of the brontosauruses and the mammoths, with pterodactyls being essential for the function of many parts of caveman society.
Pterodactyl Airlines
A feathered Pterodactyl Airlines plane.
Pterodactyls' most important use were as airplanes or airplane engines to allow travel across the world, with smaller pterodactyls being used as propeller engines on wooden log planes to keep them in the air, while giant pterodactyl airplanes were equipped with a hollowed log cabin or open roof trolley on their backs for passengers, and they were controlled by the pilot via reigns.
The most prominent pterodactyl airline companies in the franchise were Pterodactyl Airlines and Ptrans Pterodactyl Airlines.
Mini-Pterodactyl Appliances
A mini-pterodacty as a Singerock Sewing Machine from The Flintstones' Wacky Inventions.
Smaller pterodactyls were used to keep certain devices or signs suspended in the air. Others were used help out around in homes as different kinds of appliances, with tinier pterodactyls being used as can openers, picture carvers, tools or managers of smaller equipment like cameras.
Pterodacta-Sposals
A pterodacta-sposal from "The Split Personality".
At one point, small fat pterodactyls were even used as a model of garbageasaurus disposal dubbed Pterodacta-Sposals, however such a model proved ineffective in the long run due to getting full so easily, which resulted in them getting replaced with Stego-Sposals, but even these weren't much better and both would eventually be replaced altogether by the more effective Pigasaurus disposals.
Culinary Uses
Ever-popular pterodactyl drumsticks, a major bargain when on sale at the super market.
Their most secondary common use though was as food, rivaling the Dodo Bird in terms of culinary uses, with pterodactyls often being raised as if they were chickenasauruses, and unlike Dodo Birds which were more commonly raised or hunted for their eggs, pterodactyls were more commonly used for their meat, specifically for their giant filling drumsticks or for delicious whole stuffed pterodactyl roasts.
Deviled mini-pterodactyl eggs from "Bedrock Rodeo Round-Up".
Regardless, pterodactyl eggs were also harvested and laid fresh in markets and came in far more varied sizes than Dodo eggs which were always exclusive large or gigantic while pterodactyl eggs could be both large or small enough to fit in one's hand.
Breeds
Cuckoodactyls
Cuckoodactyls (also called Cuckoosauruses) are tiny feathered pterodactyls that look identical to Mini-Pterodactyls, the only difference being their distinctive high-pitched "cuckoo" cry. Because of this noisy cry, they are most often used as alarm clocks inside of cuckoo clocks. In the Cave Kids comics by Gold Key Comics, one cuckoodactyl was portrayed as more bird-like but with an odd crooked neck.
Mini-Pterodactyls
Mini-pterodactyl apple corer from "Hop Happy".
Mini-Pterodactyls were very small breeds of pterodactyls, and also the most bird-like, that could fit in the palm of a caveman's hand and were the ones most commonly used as appliances or hand tools.
Pterakeet
A pterakeet from the outro of the first and second seasons plus two episodes of the third season.
Pterakeets are the modern stone age counterparts of parakeets, basically resembling giant parakeets with pterodactyl-like beaks or crests. They are a common pet in most stone age homes, and even the Flintstone and Rubble families owned pterakeets of their own at one point or another.
Vulturedactyls
A vulturedactyl from The Flintstones' New Neighbors.
Vulturedactyls (also called Vultureasauruses or simply Vultures) were giant and temperamental breeds of feathered and carnivorous wild pterodactyls with bald heads (although a few did have crests) and white ruffs of feathers around their necks that were known to eat cavemen. They mainly lived in outskirts outside Bedrock, as well as deserts and Rocksylvania. They also enjoyed roosting over abandoned or spooky manors.
Despite this hostile and foreboding nature, Vulturedactyls were quite popular as pets with the spookier residents of Rocksylvania, especially with The Gruesome Family and The Frankenstone Family.
Appearances
Television shows
- The Flintstones
- The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show
- The Flintstone Comedy Hour
- The New Fred and Barney Show
- The Flintstone Comedy Show
- The Flintstone Funnies
- The Flintstone Kids
- Dino: The Great Egg-scape
- Yabba-Dabba Dinosaurs
Films and specials
- The Man Called Flintstone
- The Flintstone Primetime Specials
- The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones
- The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera
- I Yabba-Dabba Do!
- Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby
- A Flintstone Family Christmas
- The Flintstones
- A Flintstones Christmas Carol
- The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
- The Flintstones: On the Rocks
- The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!
