Engineer Provides New Insight Into Pterodactyl Flight

Pterosaurs (also referred to as pterodactyls) were too slow and flexible to use the stormy winds and waves of the southern ocean like the albatrosses of today, the research by Colin Palmer, an engineer turned paleontology PhD student in Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, found.

Their slow flight and the variable geometry of their wings also enabled pterosaurs to land very gently, reducing the chance of breaking their paper- thin bones. This helps to explain how they were able to become the largest flying animals ever known.

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