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[The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.]
A bird in flight is a thing of beauty. Even their takeoffs and landings usually look effortless. But pterodactyls? Well, that’s another story. Scientists have long assumed that pterodactyls, also called pterosaurs, flew just like birds, and launched themselves using their hind legs. Now a biologist at Johns Hopkins says that can’t be true. Instead, he says that pterosaurs needed all four limbs for liftoff.
Modern birds use their legs to launch and their wings to stay aloft. Once they’re in the air, their hind limbs are essentially payload, carried along for the ride. That arrangement presents a problem. A bird’s legs have to be muscular enough to get Tweety off the ground, but not so big that they drag him down. That limits how big a bird can be. Some pterosaurs, on the other hand, were the size of a giraffe. And looking at the bones of three different pterodactyl species, the Hopkins scientist concludes that there’s no way those legs were strong enough to get that bulk airborne. Instead, he says a pterosaur used all four limbs, leapfrogging forward on its knuckles, to propel itself into the air. Maybe not a thing of beauty. But it must have been something to see.
—Karen Hopkin
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7 Comments
Add Comment"Scientists have long assumed..." whatever comes after these words is usually wrong.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNOT ALL BIRDS LAUNCH WITH THEIR LEGS. SEVERAL SPIECES MUST USE A RUNWAY TAKEOFF...GEESE ETC. IT STANDS TO REASON THAT PETROSAUS COULD HAVE USED THE RUNWAY METHOD TO LAUNCH. CONSIDERING IT'S WING SPAN RUNWAY METHOD WOULD HAVE BEEN THE BETTER CHOICE.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAgree with KALLAND. The jump-liftoff is an unjustified assumption, glider birds usually need some speed to take off. Geez look at an albatros take off! that wing structure is more like the pterodactyls' than those of most birds.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf I'm not mistaken, several of the larger birds rely on catching wind streams to get aloft gain altitude and then beat the wings.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMight pterosaurs have been the original base jumpers? What was their typical topographic environment? Perhaps they could climb a short distance on four limbs to a suitable launch site, spread their wings catch a timely updraft and voila!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis seems to me the most logical. I'm guessing that their environment was indeed such that there were huge cliffs and such to allow thes creatures to launch themseves. A pterosaur the size of a giraffe???? How else could such a huge crature get itself into the air?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis seems to me the most logical. I'm guessing that their environment was indeed such that there were huge cliffs and such to allow thes creatures to launch themseves. A pterosaur the size of a giraffe???? How else could such a huge crature get itself into the air?
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