Can I have a big flying creature with jaw and teeth?

Reading through the internet and countless questions here, I learned that most Earth's flying animals have beaks because they are lightweight and function well as a substitute to hands.

Now, would it make any evolutionary sense that in my world there are sharp-teeth flying predators?

Consider:

• I want altitude flying, as high as peregrine falcons or vultures (so bat-like creatures are discarded because as far as I know they only fly at low altitudes);

• EDIT 2: There was some discussion on the definition of "flying" and "gliding". To simplify, I don't want my creatures to "glide" like sugar gliders or glider lizards, but rather as prey or carrion birds;

• Not beaks with teeth as some birds on Earth. Actual well defined jaw bones, like most predator mammals or crocodiles;

• Quite large creature, but not trespassing the limits of weight of flying creatures of our current real world physics;

Bonus points if the reasons of it being possible fits a scaled animal rather than feathered.

Atmosphere and physics is Earth-like. Biological structures are also Earth-like. General anatomy and appearance can be discarded for now, let's focus on the teeth problem.

Also, I did a quick search here to see if this is duplicate but couldn't really find one that fits my needs. Feel free to mark it as duplicate and link the answer that you think that solves this.

EDIT: For a time parameter consider today's Earth period.

EDIT 3: I'm creating this world's flora and fauna from scratch so stuff like great extinction events and selective pressure can be manipulated to match what I need.

posted almost 8 years ago

rschpdr‭

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