Avatar-type reptile once lived on Earth

Some of the most visually stunning sequences from director James Cameron’s blockbuster movie Avatar involved graceful flying creatures that were ridden by blue human-like beings facing ecological destruction on a moon called Pandora.

It turns out that an animal very similar to those Avatar creatures, called ikran, actually did exist on Earth long ago.

Scientists on Thursday announced the discovery of fossils in China of a new species of flying reptile called a pterosaur that lived 120m years ago and so closely resembled the creatures from the 2009 film that they named it after them.