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New Interactive Natural History Exhibit Focuses On Prehistoric Flying Reptile

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History lets you get up close and personal with a prehistoric flying reptile.

Pterosaurs ruled the skies when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Now, they're taking over the Museum of Natural History as the focus of a new exhibit.

As CBS 2's Vanessa Murdock reported, it's not a dinosaur, it's not a bird - it's a pterosaur.

"Look around you, there's nothing [that] exists like them today," museum curator Mark Norell said. "They have an unbelievable diversity in body shapes and body forms and they lived for around 150 million years."

Some could fit in the palm of your hand, while others - like quetzalkwatalus - were as large as a two-seater plane. The wingspan of that species was 33 feet, Murdock reported.

When on land, they walked on all fours.

"This is an actual real slab of pterosaur tracks from Utah," said Norell.

Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to fly.

An interactive exhibit lets visitors spread their wings and fly like a pterosaur through motion sensor technology.

The exhibit, which took about two years to put together, opens Saturday and runs through early next year. For more information, click here.

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