How Pterosaurs Ruled the Skies Above the Dinosaurs

[Joanne Shepard]

http://news.discovery.com/animals/dinosaurs/how-pterosaurs-ruled-skies-above-dinosaurs-140403.htm

[Maia Gabrial]

I guess their guess is as good as any other.... Is there really any way to tell?

I remember this cartoon years back. 2 archaeologist made a discovery. The one put on this thing that strangely looked like a toilet set and said that it was a ceremonial head garb. That's an expert for ya!

[Joanne Shepard]

(Pterosaurs first appear in the fossil record about 220 million years ago, making them the first vertebrates, or animals with backbones, to evolve the ability to fly on their own power. These creatures also rank as the largest flying animals, ever. Fossils suggest the biggest pterosaur, Quetzalcoatlus northropi, had a wingspan stretching about 33 feet (10 meters), longer than that of a small airplane. Of course, not all were giants. Of the more than 150 known species, some attained birdlike sizes, along the lines of sparrows or seagulls.

With size comes weight. Michael Habib, who studies biomechanics at the University of Southern California, has calculated that one particular group of pterosaurs may have weighed more than 661 pounds (300 kilograms), a weight they managed to consistently foist into the air and keep aloft.)



I so appreciate Pelicans, one of my favorites:)

[william r sanford72]

wonder about the myth of dragons.Seems all Myth and legends derive from some small spark of reality carried through the ages.i guess hows it changed by the time its gets to us...leaves us with the folklore and myth..storys we have now.I have yet to find a good mammal or dino fossil here in this part of iowa.still hunting.cool thread.Post.
truth always.
William.

[Cardillac]

whatever has ever existed in the skies or in the oceans before the 'dawn' of humanity has always taken precedence over what has ever happened on earth/soil; humanity has always been between a rock and a hard place- so why are the hands/fingers of a human fetus initially webbed that are shortly retracted?- why does the fetus initially develop a tail which is usually subsequently retracted?-

as above, so below; then throw in the concept proved by the German Aeronautics Institute in Stuttgart that water has memory-

our bodies consist of 70%+ water-

maybe it will only be a matter of time until we find that even 'air' contains memory; sort of goes along with the Hermetic belief that mind is not local but exists everywhere-

Larry

[Joanne Shepard]

wonder about the myth of dragons.Seems all Myth and legends derive from some small spark of reality carried through the ages.i guess hows it changed by the time its gets to us...leaves us with the folklore and myth..storys we have now.I have yet to find a good mammal or dino fossil here in this part of iowa.still hunting.cool thread.Post.
truth always.
William.

Iowa seems to be a great location, keep looking. I believe that the dragon tails from ancient tails are completely true. NO DOUBTS They were BIG Beautiful and probably able to land like woodpeckers do if they wanted too,, we will find evidence of them some day :)