Jonathan Richman - I'm A Little Dinosaur
Noah could have seen them fly.
Translation:
"We used Grant #1 to dream up a set of "facts" which beg a follow-on question which neatly justifies our request for Grant #2."
“assumption”
:: fossilized embryos of the creatures found in China ::
And, to prove it, the Chinese scientists fashioned a “dinosaur” out of the rocks and tossed them into the sky. Chinese news agencies reported that they immediately achieved sustained flight and traveled approximately 30 meters.
Scientists. What can’t they theorize?
“Baby pterodactyls could fly from birth”
We have video.
How could they possibly know this?
Maybe it’s just an educated guess.
So, then, I will make a guess too; The pterodactyls would benefit from learning to fly early, because they very soon became massively heavy. If you don’t know how to fly before you weigh a quarter ton, then it’s too late. You will wander about the plains, flightless and earthbound as an Emu until something eats you or until you run out of food.
...as recently so dubbed by one of the guys on the project, no doubt. The OED shows no extant uses of that made-up word in the literature. Note how it coincidentally aligns with their deceptively appealing, new claim.
actually I think it was confirmed on an episode of the Flintstones ...
Bezerkely’s Modern Lovers Live!
“Another fundamental difference between baby pterodactyls, also known as flaplings, and baby birds or bats, is that they had no parental care and had to feed and look after themselves from birth. Their ability to fly gave them a lifesaving survival mechanism which they used to evade carnivorous dinosaurs. This ability also proved to be one of their biggest killers, as the demanding and dangerous process of flight led to many of them dying at a very early age.”
I love how they present speculation as established fact.
Could they fly from berth from birth?
Hmm, well they might have had the ability to glide from birth, but certainly not the ability to fly, since even grown pterosaurs didn’t have that ability.
Also, pterosaurs did not have the ability to take off from the ground, but could only conceivably have been able to glide if they launched themselves from some significant height, if the atmospheric conditions back then were the same as they are today.
Personally I think it is likely that atmospheric pressure during the days of the dinosaurs was much greater than it is today, as that would handily solve a lot of issues not just with pterosaurs but with many other dinosaurs and ancient megafauna as well.
Amazing that they know that, but they really don’t know if they could or not... only guesswork...
