Posted on 11/15/2010 4:05:35 PM PST by decimon
A new study claims that the ancient winged reptiles known as pterosaurs used a "pole-vaulting" action to take to the air.
They say the creatures took off using all four of their limbs.
The reptiles vaulted over their wings, pushing off first with their hind limbs and then thrusting themselves upwards with their powerful arm muscles - not dissimilar to some modern bats.
The research is published in the open-access journal Plos One.
Pterosaurs lived at the same time as the dinosaurs, but belonged to a different group of reptiles. They existed from the Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous - about 220 million years ago to 65 million years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Leapin’ bat lizards ping.
Wheeew, now I can sleep worryfreeeee!
Cool!
I should think that pterosaurs would need soft ground for that sort of trick. And how would they land? Their wings seem very fragile for the need to routinely have contact with the ground.
Barbara Boxer?
I suspect there were heavy calluses, or maybe even something like a hoof, in the soft tissues over the “elbows” where the wings contacted the ground.
In other news, scientists continue to use grant money to pretend that wild ass guesses are science.
“Cool’’..’’ Petotaly cool!
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The heaviest birds which can take off and land in our present world go around 25 lbs and those can barely take off or land, while some of the flying pterosaurs would weigh up to around 1000 lbs in our present world. The obvious inference from that as well as from the question of sauropods is that those creatures never experienced gravity the way we do at all and that gravity itself is not some sort of a basic force in nature or four dimensional differential geometry sort of thing as Einstein described, but rather some sort of an electrostatic effect which was reduced for whatever reason in the age during which those kinds of creatures lived. There’s no other explanation which really works.
A new study claims that the ancient winged reptiles known as pterosaurs used a "pole-vaulting" action to take to the air.... They say the creatures took off using all four of their limbs. .... They existed from the Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous - about 220 million years ago to 65 million years ago.
Whew. I'm glad this is finally settled.
It's been bugging me for eons. Now I can get some sleep.
Ooops wait a sec ??? Why did they die out 65 million years ago?
Dammit. More sleepless nights ahead.
I’d sent my suit to one of those budget dry cleaners and unbeknownst to me he not only cleaned it but reduced the electrostatic effect.
Imagine my surprise when I put the suit on. Luckily I was able to break my rise against a nearby light pole. I undressed quickly and dropped back to earth unharmed.
Never used that budget dry cleaner again. Lesson learned.
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