[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Subject Index][Author Index]

Discovery Article On Pterosaurs



name dropping time...

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20031006/pterosaur.html

...
The recent discoveries, outlined in the current issue of Biologist, also
suggest that pterosaurs walked on four limbs instead of two, as previously
believed. Paleontologists have struggled with this issue, due to the
bat-like way the flying reptile's wings were attached to its fore-limbs
and hind-limbs.

According to Darren Naish and Dave Martill, paleobiologists at the
University of Portsmouth in England and authors of the Biologist paper,
pterosaurs for most of the 20th century were stereotyped as awkward fliers
with little wing movement.

Now they claim, "Prominent muscle attachment sites on the arm, shoulder
and chest bones show that pterosaurs were active 'flappers.'"

The flapping must have stirred up quite a wind, as the wingspan of some
large species, such as the pterodactyl, could reach 36 to 39 feet.

Naish and Martill theorize that the ancient, flying creatures descended
from quadruped, climbing reptiles. The pterosaurs' sharply curved hand and
foot claws resemble those of climbing primates and other tree-dwellers.

According to the authors, pterosaurs also had a furry pelt, which suggests
a high rate of metabolism, likely due to all of the vigorous
wing-flapping. 
...
S. Christopher Bennett, assistant professor of basic sciences at the
College of Chiropractic at the University of Bridgeport, analyzed the new
Nyctosaurus specimens, which were found in Kansas. Bennett told Discovery
News that he agrees with virtually all of Naish and Martill's analysis,
but he is not yet convinced that pterosaurs walked on four limbs.

"It is almost certain that large pterodactyloids would have had to run
bipedally for brief periods to take off," Bennett said, adding that it is
possible the Mesozoic reptiles did not walk much at all, like today's
frigate birds, hummingbirds and nighthawks.

Bennett supports the Biologist assessment of the head crests, which he
thinks were used as display structures to attract mates and/or to
intimidate rivals.

He said, "I know if I had one of those, women would be throwing themselves
at me, convinced of my sexual prowess and reproductive fitness, and men
would shrink from me, sure that my strength greatly exceeded theirs."