Scientists in Dublin may have solved a problem that has vexed palaeontologists for 95 years – how reptiles called pterosaurs were able to fly.
Pterosaurs ruled the skies for over 130 million years and died out 65 million years ago. They are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight, and are sometimes referred to in the popular media as “flying dinosaurs” (though strictly speaking they aren’t dinosaurs).
Size and aerodynamics
Pterosaurs are the biggest animals ever to take to the skies. The aerodynamics of the membrane which stretched over their huge 12-metre wingspan would have influenced the way they could fly.
But up to now there have been two theories on the positioning of the pteriod, a bone at the front of the wing that controlled the shape of the membrane:
- One argues that it must have been positioned sideways
- The other suggests that it pointed forwards
Reconstructions
Dr Dyke explaining how flying creatures are indicators of climate change (see link below to a video of this lecture)
The researchers from University College Dublin and the University of Bristol used biomechanical analysis and tested aerodynamic efficiency.
“We were working to reconstruct how these enormous reptiles flew – how they took to the air, how they landed, and how they made their living in flight,” says Dr Gareth Dyke from UCD’s School of Biology and Environmental Science.
The scientists found that a forward pointing pteriod would not have been able to withstand the stresses and strains involved in the take off and flight of such a large animal.
Their findings suggest that the only conceivable positioning of the wing bone is a sideways one.
“A sideways orientation implies a faster flyer. It affects the speed at which they could fly, which could tell you about the type of life they led, where they lived, and possibly even what they ate,” Dr Dyke says.
His research addresses the evolutionary history of birds and their dinosaurian relatives, using the fossil record as well as drawing extensively on living animals.
Learn more
View a video of his lecture on how “Birds are sensitive indicators of climate change: they have been for 140 million years”
