Re: Pterosaur Fur

[MICHAEL HABIB <habib@jhmi.edu>]

Even if the wings had hair (unlikely, as has been
mentioned), long fur/fuzz is unlikely to have the
structural strength required to resist aerodynamic
loads.  Hair simply doesn't make for a very good
spoiler.  John Conway already mentioned some viable
methods for warping the wing.  It turns out that
pterosaur wings could change shape in a number of
ways, though I do agree that it is not immediately
obvious/intuitive when looking at them for the first
time.

There is one way that the fuzz/hair on pterosaurs
could be aerodynamically useful, however, and that
is in the production of a turbulent boundary layer.

A nice, "outside the box" type question.  Good to
see more people thinking about pterosaurs!

Cheers,

--Mike H.



----- Original Message -----
From: Glen Ledingham <glenled@yahoo.com>
Date: Monday, October 15, 2007 2:38 pm
Subject: Pterosaur Fur
To: dinosaur@usc.edu

> If pterosaur wing fur/fuzz was long enough and if it
> could be erected as mammal fur can, perhaps it could
> have served as an aerodynamic spoiler for changing
> flight attitudes.  This would be easier than warping
> the wing, which looks difficult with the single-finger
> leading edge.  
> 
> Just an idea from an amateur, thrown out for
> dissection by the experts.
> 
> Glen Ledingham