Re: Paedomorphosis ( Re: BARYONYX' CLAWS )

[Dinogeorge <Dinogeorge@aol.com>]

In a message dated 98-04-12 14:56:39 EDT, bettyc@flyinggoat.com writes:

<< There is no better term for the mechanics of flight via powered flapping
 than 'flight'. >>

A long time ago, people tried to construct aircraft that could fly the way
birds do, by flapping their wings. These were called "ornithopters." (They
never worked.) Perhaps we could call the kind of powered flying that birds,
bats, and pterosaurs do/did "ornithopting," and retain the term "flight" as a
general term for all kinds of aerodynamically controlled locomotion through
the air (parachuting, gliding, tail-gliding, ornithopting, helicopting, etc.).
Then penguins (and plesiosaurs?) might be described as ornithopting through
water.