Re: Tail feathers

[Chris Campbell <Sankarah@ou.edu>]

Matthew Troutman wrote:
>Based on what it is known about bird flight and the known and 
>hypothetical use of the tail during flight, I find it rather perplexing 
>that pterodactyloid pterosaurs didn't have a similiar system.  Dave 
>Peters has suggested that some of the pterosaur fossils show a 
>uropatagium, this could have functioned like a locomotor module.

How likely is the possibility that they flew more or less like bats?  I've
always thought of pterodactyloids (and I guess our late Cretaceous biggies)
as being hybrids of birds and bats, at least as far as flight mechanisms go.
Is this reasonable?  Way off?  Kinda sorta but not really plausible?
--
Oh my God!  They've killed Kosh!  You bastards!
Chris Campbell  Sankarah@ix.netcom.com