Quetzalcoatlus mass

[GSP1954@aol.com]

I was the first to explain that Quetzalcoatlus was far more massive than 
the conventional wisdom. I was in charge of the restoration for Paul 
McCready's robotic QN project and quickly realized that the skeletal framework 
was 
way to big to accomodate the human-like 70 kg mass thought necessary to 
achieve flight, and I published more realistic weights starting in 1987 in 
Nature. 
As one who thinks superpterosaurs were real massive the new estimate of 
about a half tonne is a real stretch. The half size Q. sp are sufficient to get 
a reasonable volumetric estimate, and scaling up from that results in a 
quarter tonne for Q. northropi assuming a normal avian specific gravity. The 
existence of what appear to be fully developed wings on the superpterosaur 
indicate it was a true flier, albeit perhaps a short range burst flier. A 
number of researchers including myself have shown that the span/mass ratio was 
simialr to some gliders and there was plenty of muscle power to take off. 

GSPaul</HTML>