Pterosaur Lift Off (was Pterosaur Bipedal Challenge)

[MarkSabercat@aol.com]

At least some families of small neotropical bats (Phyllostoma) may provide 
models for possible modes of pterosaur lift-off behavior: as shown in footage 
of vampire bats (Desmodus), disturbed while feeding from large sleeping 
ungulates, the technique is to crouch down in a quadrupedal position and 
spring into the air almost vertically, gaining the  time and space to begin 
forward flapping motion. In a world of archosaur predators, one can imaguine 
that fast take-offs were a must for most small pterosaur taxa....

Mark Hallett