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To: Al Simmons

I'm guessing it flew. It is like a mathematical equation where you have more than one variable. In this case lots of variables, since we do not have a complete creature to test fly and we do not know what the environment was like when it lived.

But the range of possibilities are in two categories:
1. things we don't yet know (or haven't thought about) regarding the animal.
2. Things we don't yet know (or haven't thought about) regarding the environment in which it lived.

The solution to this puzzle could be in one or both categories.

Regarding the Bronto...I mean, Apatosaurus, there is a lot of speculation going on regarding all sorts of things - not just tendons, but blood pressure variances, etc. There's more to it than the pictures in schoolbooks, and people need to be educated about such things.


542 posted on 07/05/2006 6:02:32 PM PDT by RobRoy (The Internet is doing to Evolution what it did to Dan Rather. Information is power.)
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To: RobRoy
Actually, a scientist built a 1/2 scale model of Quetzalcoatlus about 15 or so years ago and flew it in the desert of West Texas. (yes, they had to 'launch it' off the ground, but, once it was up in the air, it dropped the launching gear and flapped its wings, soaring effortlessly on the wind currents.)

From Wikipedia:"MacCready also developed, for the Smithsonian Institution, a half-scale replica of the giant pterosaur, Quetzalcoatlus northropi. The model had a wingspan of 5.5 meters (18 feet) and featured a complex, computerized control system, just as the full-size pterosaur relied on its neuromuscular system to make constant adjustments in flight."

Here is the link to a short video of its flight:

http://ovirc4.free.fr/Films/maccready.mpg

543 posted on 07/05/2006 6:11:49 PM PDT by Al Simmons (Hillary Clinton is Stalin in a Dress)
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