Jun 13,
2019, 8:45pm
New
analysis of recent fossil finds suggest that pterosaurs could fly very soon
after they hatched, unlike today’s birds or bats.
The
pterosaurs were a group of flying reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs
and included the famous pterodactyls. Humans have been aware of these creatures
through fossils for at least three centuries, but researchers have only in the
past 15 years started uncovering evidence of their development from eggs into
adults.
These
finds led to a debate over whether pterosaur wings and bones developed under
the care of parents before flight, like today’s flying animals, or whether
pterosaurs could fly right after hatching. A new analysis provides evidence
that the reptiles developed all of their flight abilities before hatching.
“One
mistake we’ve made in the past is to try and interpret pterosaurs in the
context of birds and bats,” David Unwin, the study’s first author and
paleobiologist at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom told Gizmodo.
“We’ve learned the hard way that doesn’t always work.”
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