Above a long, toothless, beaked jaw, two large eyes stared into his as he struggled free of the egg. Once the baby was out, he could see that the creature had big leathery wings, stretching from its fingers to its knees, and that it had long, slender legs. “Hello!” it said. “Who are you?” asked the baby. “Your mother,” the creature replied. “Nice to see you. Let’s go flying.” And she spread her big leathery wings and took off. Could I do that? wondered the baby. Only one way to find out. So he spread his very small wings and flew up after his mother. “Well done!” she cried when he reached her. “It’s nice to be nidifugous, isn’t it?” “What does ‘nidifugous’ mean, Mom?” the baby asked. “It means to be able to fly as soon as you’re hatched. All pterodactyls can.” “What does ‘pterodactyl’ mean, Mom?” “Creatures like us,” the baby’s mother replied. “Pteron means ‘wing,’ and daktylos means ‘finger.’ Each of my wings is attached to each of my fourth fingers, see?
