Model of Quetzalcoatlus, the largest known Pterosaur (Alina Zienowicz, cc-by-sa-3.0)
CBC Quirks & Quarks has a story about the largest pterosaurs, more specifically, how they flew. Quetzalcoatlus is the largest known pterosaur. It had a wingspan of more that 10 meters. That's larger than many small planes! Dr. Michael Habib, an assistant professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, studied the physics of their flight, the limits on their size, and just how big they could get. The quick answer, they could get even bigger!
In engineering simulations, he found that for flight and landing they could be much bigger, but that it was launch - getting off the ground - that ultimately limited their size. Pterosaurs used a unique four-footed "vault" to get into the sky, but the power-to-weight ratio necessary for that launch, according to his calculations, means that a 12-meter wingspan was probably as big as they could get.
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology release
Science News article
Other interesting stories in this weeks show:
First Peoples Used Spear Throwers
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