ARAMBOURGIANIA

Arambourgiania philadelphiae

Etymology: Philadelphia's Arambourg

Nickname: "Arambour"

Classification: Pterosauria, Azhdarchidae

Diet: Carnivore

Size: 10 meters of wingspan

Provenance: Ruseifa Phosphate Mines, Jordan - Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian stage, 72 - 66 million years ago

Movie appearances: The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997); Jurassic Park III (2001); Jurassic World (2015); Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018); Jurassic World: Dominion (2022); Jurassic World Rebirth (2025)

Arambourgiania philadelphiae was a giant flying reptile with an enormous wingspan that could match the length of a school bus. Its genus honors Camille Arambourg, who described the species, with the specific name referencing the city of Amman, the capital of Jordan, which was anciently named Philadelphia, although this species was found in other locations, including as far as North America.

Arambourgiania don't appear to show any sort of sexual dimorphism. The first phenotypes generated in Isla Sorna appeared more elegant, often standing on two legs and lifting their necks in an elegant manner, perhaps to be more alert of predators, and also sported a slightly downward bill tip. This early phenotype sported bluish heads and a yellowish bill. Another phenotype in Isla Sorna had a more tan and brown coloration and splotches of black on the tip of its wings and beak. A third phenotype was created for Isla Nublar's Jurassic World, and it appears to come from different material found elsewhere, in the north american Coon Creek Formation, which might end up being revealed as a different species. That phenotype is depicted as having a slightly downward bill tip, though there is variation. Its body is grey-colored, with the heads being lined with dark blue or dark red keratinous coverings, and having a wing membrane that is orange in coloration on the underside.

In Isla Sorna, Arambourgiania were depicted mostly residing in the "bird cage" that they were initially raised on. Adults were the main residents, but juveniles also existed, already capable of leaping and flying from rock to rock, pursuing targets and attacking prey, often collectively. Arambourgiania may present themselves hostile to humans, but not so much to aerial vehicles, such as helicopters, flying peacefully side by side. When threatened, Arambourgiania are capable of producing loud vocalizations as a defensive behavior. In 2015, the escaped Arambourgiania demonstrated themselves as especially prompted to attack humans on the main street of Jurassic World. During that event, at least one casualty, Zara, was caused by one of these pterosaurs, as one caught her and dropped her in the Shonisaurus aquarium, where her, as well as the pterosaur, were eaten. The Arambourgiania would eventually flee the zone once they noticed the presence of the Shonisaurus. In Isla Nublar, Arambourgiania were shown to be attracted to flashing lights, resulting in aggressive behaviors towards humans.

Arambourgiania was cloned in the early 1990s, in Isla Sorna, being subjected to the lysine contingency, but when they escaped, during the Hurricane Clarissa, in 1993, these pterosaurs countered this limitation by selectively feeding on lysine-rich foods. Arambourgiania didn't show themselves to be picky about food, with human meat consumption being known, as evidenced by human remains identified in their nest.

In 2001, a group of stranded survivors managed to encounter one of these pterosaurs when crossing a bridge in their aviary. As one Arambourgiania landed on the bridge to investigate, it scared off Eric Kirby, which led the pterosaur to start chasing it. The adult Arambourgiania snatched Kirby and landed it in a nest filled with hungry juveniles that started attacking him, but Billy Brennan decided to go save him by using a paraglider. The juveniles stopped attacking Kirby once he was rescued. One clinged for longer, but its grip was not very strong so it instead fell down and flew away. Meanwhile the rest of the survivors were attempting to escape a walking Arambourgiania that was pursuing them in the walkway. Later another Arambourgiania almost snatched Alan Grant and Paul Kirby, but they escaped by diving and swimming into the water, where the terrestrial pterosaur couldn't feasibly catch them. Later, when the survivors are being saved by the Marines, Grant notices a few Arambourgiania flying away from the island, theorizing they were trying to look for new nesting grounds. These pterosaurs flew all the way to Canada, where they were eventually shot down by Vic Hoskins and his InGen Security Division team.

In Jurassic World, Arambourgiania were held in their own aviary in Isla Nublar, where interactions with humans were also recorded, initially just humorous encounters, such as one where one of these pterosaurs steals someone's hat. With the escape of Indominus rex, in 2015, Arambourgiania, alongside the Coloborhynchus it was sharing its habitat with, escape to the park's main street and start attacking people. Zara Young was captured by one of these pterosaurs and dropped in the Shonisaurus lagoon, where a few Arambourgiania proceeded to land in the water to retrieve her, but this caused both Zara and one of the pterosaurs to be consumed by the giant resident ichthyosaur. One Arambourgiania nearly impales Gray and Zach Mitchell, after the pterosaur is tranquilized mid flight and crashes in the ground below. After this incident, Arambourgiania were left to live free in the wild of Isla Nublar.

By 2018, the Arambourgiania remained flourishing residents, but were under the threat of extinction due to the impending eruption of Mount Sibo. They were seen when Owen Grady was searching for Blue, the Deinonychus. Three Arambourgiania were captured and brought to Lockwood Manor, where they subsequently escaped into the californian wilderness. It was in the aftermath of the escape of this and other prehistoric creatures into the american mainland, that the Dinosaur Protection Group revealed that Arambourgiania was one of the species historically subjected to mistreatment. 

Stories about human and Arambourgiania encounters on the mainland are plenty, including anecdotal ones, where one, quite literally, ate a kid's homework. These pterosaurs also suffered from predation by other de-extinct creatures, such as Suchomimus.

FILM vs. REALITY

DISCLAIMER: Arambourgiania does not show up in the Jurassic Park films, and it is instead, here, meant to be a plausible substitute to the films' Pteranodon. The films' Pteranodon differs substantially from its real life counterpart. While the real life one was big, it only reached about 6-7 meters in wingspan for males, with females being considerably smaller, while the film one is often much larger. The bill is shown to be either straight or oddly wavy, and in reality the bill would have been very long and curved upwards, often with an upper jaw tip that protrudes further than the lower jaw tip. Its crest is depicted as either being covered in flesh or in keratin, in the films, but the real life one would indeed have a long keratin-covered crest in males, while females and young would have smaller crests. Pteranodon is shown attacking and hunting people for food, but that is not accurate to their known ecology, with them having been specialized oceanic piscivores.

Arambourgiania is distinguished from the real life Pteranodon, for being much larger, and having a much bigger head and bill, adapted to deal with terrestrial prey, which is also reflected by its larger and longer limbs for walking and running. Unlike the movie's counterpart, the real life Arambourgiania would likely not have naked skin, and instead be covered in small hair-like feathers, called pycnofibers. The walking gait of Arambourgiania was one where the limbs were held upright below the body, which is less awkward than the gait depicted by the Pteranodon in the films. In Jurassic Park III, Pteranodon is depicted having a fleshy snout with teeth, and in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Pteranodon is depicted as having a hooked bill tip; none of those configurations are expected for Arambourgiania, which belongs to a toothless clade, and although slightly odd orientations of the bill tip of pterosaurs are known and recorded, there truly isn't any known example of a hooked beak in this lineage of reptiles. Arambourgiania would have a much longer neck, which would have permitted it to have the strength to lift and support a very large head to catch terrestrial vertebrates, and therefore it would have been a more tangible threat to something like a human. Unlike what is depicted in the film, Arambourgiania would probably not grab prey with their feet, but rather with their bill. Pteranodon is depicted as a hawking predator, but that would be an unlikely behavior for Arambourgiania which, in spite of being capable of flight, couldn't exert violent forces, such as plunging in the water or diving and catching prey mid-air, unless the giant pterosaur was slowing down to catch a large prey and then taking off again.

Unlike as depicted in the prologue of Jurassic World: Dominion, Pteranodon was not known to coexist with Tyrannosaurus rex, though Arambourgiania existed at the same time. Although that genus is known from Jordan, material attributed to this genus is identified from Coon Creek, implying the genus might have existed in North America, though the exact assignment of this material to the genus is dubious. In Jurassic Park III, the Pteranodon are depicted taking care and feedinf their young, and while it is unknown if Arambourgiania would have engaged in parental care, a recent study suggested that the size of very large pterosaurs might have troubled the possibility of their young being born fully capable of flight, suggesting a period of parental care for such large flying reptiles.