You are in the coastal shorelines of South America, 112 million years ago.

The humid air of the Early Cretaceous afternoon hung thick, smelling of salt and decay, as you crept behind a ridge of volcanic rock. Before you lay the scene: a sprawling, chaotic Anhanguera nesting colony. Hundreds of four-foot-tall pterosaurs, with their vibrant, crest-topped heads and 15-foot wingspans, crowded the shoreline.

The noise was deafening—a mix of squawks and chirps, reminding me instantly of a modern seabird colony. You watched a mother Anhanguera meticulously adjust a pile of sandy soil around her leathery, white eggs, while males milled nearby, their large teeth flashing in the sun as they snapped at insects or engaged in territorial disputes.

One male, displaying an enormous red-and-yellow crest, landed heavily only a few meters away, ignoring your presence, its large eyes tracking the movement of a school of fish in the shallow water below. For a moment, you were forgotten, just a shadow on the rocks, witnessing the intense, frantic life of a flying giant on the Brazilian coast.