Re: Pterosaur size (Was: Great in the air, not so good underwater)

[jrc <jrccea@bellsouth.net>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Habib" <mhabib5@jhmi.edu>
To: <DINOSAUR@usc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 5:10 PM
Subject: Re: Pterosaur size (Was: Great in the air, not so good underwater)


> This is why, for example, using bustards as a metric of near maximum sizes 
> for volancy in birds is problematic.

--------This is true.  The Whooper Swan 'Stonker' (JAP) was as massive as a 
Kori Bustard, flew by means of continous flapping, and traveled regularly 
between Scotland, Iceland, and sometimes Ireland.  He was a flier of the 
first order, and doesn't seem to have been struggling to achieve volancy. 
Once, during a gale off the coast of Iceland, while wearing a radio tracker, 
he made one of the most remarkable emergency endurance flights that I am 
aware of.

> I agree this may be true; I also think such conditions may be more 
> widespread than we give credit for.

-------Yes.  I tend to think it is a fluke that there aren't more giant 
fliers at the moment.

> It appears that pterosaurs ended up huge more regularly than birds (and 
> became much large-bodied overall) because their membranous wings and 
> launch system made large size especially viable.

------Yes, though I note that for an equivilent span, pterosaurs tended to 
have smaller torsos than birds -- but their heads and necks tended to be 
larger, sometimes much larger.

> (though hindsight is 20/20).

-----Mine ain't.
Jim