- May 1, 2009
- 06:00 PM
- 1,042 views
Could Pterosaurs Actually Fly?
by Bryan Perkins in Science. Why not?
Albatrosses and petrels (both considered soaring birds) have long, narrow, aerodynamically efficient wings. Albatrosses can fly thousands of kilometers over the span of a few days. They spend most of their life foraging at sea and return to the place they were born about every eighteen months to mate. 'A combination of the long, narrow, aerodynamically efficient wings and the anatomical capability to lock their wings in a stretched position permits albatrosses to travel with the lowest ener........ Read more »
Sato K, Kentaro Q, Sakamoto, Watanuki Y, Takahashi A, Katsumata1 N, Bost C-A, & Weimerskirch H. (2009) Scaling of Soaring Seabirds and Implications for Flight Abilities of Giant Pterosaurs. PLoS one. DOI: http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0005400/trackback
Sato K, Kentaro Q, Sakamoto, Watanuki Y, Takahashi A, Katsumata1 N, Bost C-A, & Weimerskirch H. (2009) Scaling of Soaring Seabirds and Implications for Flight Abilities of Giant Pterosaurs . PLoS one. DOI: http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0005400
Sato, K., Sakamoto, K., Watanuki, Y., Takahashi, A., Katsumata, N., Bost, C., & Weimerskirch, H. (2009) Scaling of Soaring Seabirds and Implications for Flight Abilities of Giant Pterosaurs. PLoS ONE, 4(4). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0005400
- April 30, 2009
- 05:06 PM
- 556 views
Ruining the fantasies of kids everywhere: Study claims big Pterodactyls couldn't fly
by Christie Wilcox in Observations of a Nerd
One of the coolest dinosaurs you learn about as a kid are Pterodactyls (really Pterosaurs, but who's checking). As giant flying lizards, these guys are thought to have dominated the skies long before birds existed (from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous, 220–65 million years ago). The biggest of the bunch are Pteranodon and Quetzalcoatlus, which are thought to have weighed as much as 250 kg with wingspans in excess of 30 feet.
But a new study, published in PLoS ONE is casting dou........ Read more »
Sato, K., Sakamoto, K., Watanuki, Y., Takahashi, A., Katsumata, N., Bost, C., & Weimerskirch, H. (2009) Scaling of Soaring Seabirds and Implications for Flight Abilities of Giant Pterosaurs. PLoS ONE, 4(4). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0005400
- April 29, 2009
- 11:28 PM
- 565 views
Albatross vs. Pterosaur
by Andrew Farke in The Open Source Paleontologist
Today, there was a paper tangentially related to pterosaurs in the open access journal PLoS ONE. A team of investigators wired up albatrosses and petrels with accelerometers, in order to measure the percentage of time these animals spent flapping their wings and soaring. They found two main styles of wing flapping (as inferred from the accelerometer measurements): 1) high frequency flapping during take-off; and 2) low-frequency flapping during soaring. Interestingly, the frequencies scale with b........ Read more »
Sato, K., Sakamoto, K., Watanuki, Y., Takahashi, A., Katsumata, N., Bost, C., & Weimerskirch, H. (2009) Scaling of soaring seabirds and implications for flight abilities of giant pterosaurs. PLoS ONE, 4(4). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0005400
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