Anurognathus were a species of small carnivorous pterosaur from the Jurassic period.
Characteristics[]
Anurognathus had a short head with pin-like teeth, and its tail was comparatively short, allowing it more maneuverability for hunting in woodland. Anurognathus lived in very large, swarm-like flocks and groups, and were predators of devastating savagery. Anurognathus attacked prey in their large numbers, and used their needle-like teeth to attack their prey and strip the flesh away in moments. Anurognathus could also smell blood across considerably large distances, like piranhas, and were drawn to it very easily.
Incursions and encounters[]
Episode 1.5[]
A large flock of Anurognathus came through an Anomaly to the Forest Heights Country Club golf course in the present, where they killed Andy when they were drawn by blood from a cut on his finger.
Connor Temple and Abby Maitland later found the Anurognathus roosting in a tree in the golf course's woodland, before the creatures were drawn away by the scent of blood from the golf course's local hotel. The Anurognathus arrived outside the hotel, killing a Special Forces medic in the grounds and swarming and surrounding the hotel like locusts.
When the Anurognathus broke into the hotel, Claudia Brown was barricaded in a lounge while Nick Cutter went out to the ambulance in the hotel grounds and locked himself inside from the Anurognathus. Back at the hotel, when the Anurognathus entered the lounge where Claudia was via the chimney, Helen Cutter helped Claudia escape, with the creatures following after the two. Helen then used the tools, ovens and microwaves in the hotel kitchen to cause a gas explosion which destroyed the house and killed the Anurognathus.
Episode 5.5[]
When Convergence occurred, a flock of Anurognathus came through an Anomaly to the present and stalked the skies above the New Dawn Facility. They chased Matt Anderson and Emily Merchant, who shot a few of them with their EMDs but were forced to retreat under a shutter door into the building from the creatures. When two guards and April Leonard captured Matt and Emily and the guards opened the door, the Anurognathus swarmed into the facility and attacked the guards.
Later, when Abby cornered April and threatened to shoot her, two Anurognathus attacked April. Shortly afterwards, the rest of the swarm arrived and caused April to fall from the balcony to her death. It is unknown if it was the creatures or the fall that killed April; but it was more likely to have been the fall as few cuts were visible on April's body.
It is unknown what happened to the Anurognathus, but they were presumably either killed when Philip Burton destroyed the facility, or managed to escape the building in time, and are still at large.
Other references[]
Episode 2.1[]
The Anurognathus from Episode 1.5 were seen in Cutter's recap of Series 1.
Real life[]
Anurognathus, the type species being Anurognathus ammoni, was a small pterosaur genus of the Late Jurassic. It was estimated to have had a 9cm-long body, and a wingspan of fifty centimetres (20 inches). Anurognathus' small head possessed pin-like teeth for catching and eating insects, and it's thought to have lived and hunted in woodland.
Trivia[]
- Primeval's Anurognathus are different from the creatures in the fossil record, and apparently live in a different era; presumably re-imagined by the producers to make them scarier. They most likely evolved from Anurognathus ammoni.
- According to the original primeval.tv website, the Anurognathus seen in Primeval are not supposed to be Anurognathus ammoni, but a fictional second species of Anurognathus that, instead of hunting insects, "...had slicing teeth for taking lumps of flesh off large dinosaurs." This could explain why they came from a Cretaceous anomaly, as well as their depiction as flesh-eaters.
- The Anurognathus flock seen in Series 1 and the one in Series 5 are slightly different colours; with the first flock being brown with lighter underbellies (Episode 1.5), and the second flock being a light brown with a blueish tinge (Episode 5.5).
- Anurognathus appear in Episode 5 of both the first and fifth series.
- While the Anurognathus in Series 1 only attack those who have traces of blood on them, when the Series 5 flock attacked Matt and Emily, neither one of them had any trace of blood on their clothing.
- The sound produced by the Anurognathus in Primeval is the same sound produced by the baby Allosaurus in The Ballad of Big Al, another show produced by Impossible Pictures.
Errors[]
- In Episode 1.5, Anurognathus and a Pteranodon both came through the same Anomaly. But in the real life, the two species lived in different time periods; Anurognathus in the Jurassic, and Pteranodon in the Cretaceous. Some fans have speculated that the Anurognathus in 1.5, before coming through the golf course Anomaly, may have previously come through another Anomaly into the Cretaceous, or the Pteranodon through another Anomaly into the Jurassic.
- In real life, Anurognathus would have eaten insects, but in Primeval they are depicted as flesh-eaters.