Re: Pterosaurs in trees? NOT!

[Bettyc <Bettyc@flyinggoat.com>]

Andrea Spreafico wrote:
 Bramwell and Whitfield (1974) say yes for _Pteranodon_, but to
prominences
> of rocks, not to trees. More recently it is observed by other authors, like
> Padian, that upside position was not very confortable for pterosaurs, due to
> structure and disposition of bones in the backlimbs.


Think about it-most pterosaurs had these big honkers.  
If you had a honker like that you wouldn't go hugging treebark
vertically unless you could pull your head far enough away from the tree
to see around you.   Either by turning your head (and not being able to
turn it back the other way) or by hanging on with your hands and leaning
WAY back to give your head some room.  It's the same logistical trouble
whether you face down on the trunk or up. 
 
If you were attached to a tree limb only (horizontally) you could brace
with your wing fingers along the branch, like a knuckle-walking gorilla
with it's arms stretched out in front of it, but if you hung from a
branch (quadrapedally like a sloth) your schnoz gets in the way again
cause to look around you have to make clearance room for the beak (and
whatever crest you might have) to turn your head.  Awkward and possibly
a danger to an animal that can't look around very quickly. 

-- 
           Betty Cunningham  
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