Posted on 09/08/2005 7:26:09 PM PDT by aculeus
Giant flying reptiles that soared through the skies in the dinosaur era may have been almost twice as big as previously thought.
Recent discoveries suggest that pterosaurs, the best known of which is the pterodactyl, could have had a wingspan of up to 59ft.
Based on previous fossil finds, paleontologists had estimated the largest pterosaur wingspans to be around 33ft, making it the largest ever animal to fly.
However, bone fragments unearthed in Israel and footprints found in Mexico suggest the largest specimens were substantially larger.
Dr David Martill, from the University of Portsmouth, told the conference: "These were very, very big animals indeed. They were the size of a small aeroplane. Even though they are fragments, they are bloody big fragments.
"Exceptional tissue preservation shows that these animals had a very sophisticated structure."
Footprints discovered in Mexico last year by Professor Dino Frey, of the Natural History Museum in Karlsruhe, Germany, and pterosaur wing finger bones, almost five inches wide, as well as parts of a shoulder girdle have led paleontologists to re-estimate the reptile's wingspan.
The previous largest specimen was the Quetzalcoatlus, discovered by Douglas Lawson in the Big Bend National Park, Texas, in the 1970s.
Pterosaurs lived in the Triassic period with the oldest examples dating back to around 220 million years ago.
Experts are still unsure about the ancestry of pterosaurs. They are currently classified as belonging to a group of reptiles known as archosaurs, which include crocodiles, dinosaurs and birds.
They could fold their joints close to the body at the shoulder and walked a little like bats.
They were previously thought of as gliding animals, but it is now clear they had the ability to flap their wings.
Yep, lets keep our eyes open!
Yes, you are 100% right. I don't doubt that the picture might be a hoax - you can't beleive everything you see, you know.
Yet that doesn't explain why many folks have a memory of it, but nobody can find the pic. A hoaxed picture shouldn't just vanish like that - a fake photo in a 1955 book could make it into a 1990 or 2000 book, even if it reveals the pic is a hoax.
The controversy isn't so much on the validity of the pic (the truth theirin), but more on 'why do so many people have a vivid memory of a photo that nobody can seem to find?'
Reminds me of the "kongamato" :-)
6000 years ago (duh).
I've known dozens of honest, intelligent, inquisitive folks claiming to have seen photos of a 1500's vintage Chinese copy of a thousands-of-years old stone tablet containing an accurate map of the entire world, including an ice-free Antarctica.
as far as I can tell, no such photos exist.
Yikes! I wondered where Wilma got Fred's eggs from...
I have two questions. 1) Why do evolutionists think that creationists don't believe in dinosaurs? 2)Why do evolutionists believe that dinosaurs prove evolution? The only thing dinosaur fossils prove is that dinosaurs once existed and are now extinct.
http://www.haxan.com/portfolio/freakylinks/WWWFRE~1.COM/FREAKO~1/TAILS_~1/THUNDE~1.HTM Check this out, still looking for the one on the barn
You know your stuff!! :-)
Yerp, I know what you mean. Still, the mystery is more as to 'what are they (we) all remembering?' given the fact that the photos can't be identified.
By the way, I think I've seen that too. ;-)
You think maybe you're remembering a movie?
Like my grandad would say, be thankful cows don't fly.
well, I have a couple of memories which I KNOW to be impossible. but I think this is a different matter.
people are VERY good at vicarious learning, and there is no difference between a vague memory of a distant event and a vague memory of a distant imagining spurred through vicarious learning.
THANKS!! Close to what I remember, but that picture really looks like a fake to me. It just doesn't seem right. That's still pretty cool, though! Are you a fan of this kind of cra... I mean, stuff, too? :-)
Check out this page...
http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa100801b.htm
_Jim ~ How about an 'atmospheric density' change (e.g., 30% or twice the density that we have now)?
That would also explain how giant insects would get enough oxygen with their poor circulatory and respiratory systems.
Not only is there a random large scale blasting of the atmosphere into space by occasional giant meteor strikes, the atmosphere is continuously being blown off into space an atom at a time by solar wind and heat.
Over a couple billion years it adds up...
No, I don't think so. And if I am, lots of people are making the same mistake.
Honestly, I'm inclined to think it's a trick of the imagination - a lot of people read a very vivid account that mentioned a photo, but didn't produce one. Young boys (who are the core audience for stuff like this) pondered it and created the picture in their imagination.
Now we all 'remember' it but there's no pic. Kinda cool!
Or, there really is a pic out there....
Yes, I agree with you. A very vivid visualization is as real to the subconcious mind as a real event, and in time it's indistinguishable.
A post ago I suggested that some folks read an account and we each created the pic in our minds, probably as youngsters. We remember the picture more than we remember the story we read. The mind is an amazing thing! Thanks for well reasoned thoughts!
You are talking to a man that held Asimov as an idol. Also one who has seen UFO's up close and personal. I am an outdoor person and have spent many night out on the water and in the fields. Sometimes things just can not be explained.
Thanks! There is a whole segment of folks who remember this photo, yet no photo exists. Neat stuff!
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