How Did Pterosaurs Fly? Scientists Think They’ve Cracked It.mp4

Amaze Lab

Birds achieve flight because they have hollow bones and don’t weigh much, but back in prehistoric times the pterosaurs ruled the skies. These creatures lived some 215 million years ago and could weigh up to 550 pounds. So how did they ever get off the ground?

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00:00birds achieve flight because they have hollow bones and don't weigh much but back in prehistoric

00:08times the pterosaurs ruled the skies these creatures lived some 215 million years ago

00:14and could weigh up to 550 pounds so how did they ever achieve flight well that's a question that

00:20has baffled scientists for decades but now they might finally have an answer we now know that

00:25pterosaurs did in fact have feathers but it was their tail veins that could have properly allowed

00:29them to be the first sky-faring creatures ever paleontologists who were not involved in this

00:34study concur that this would make sense with one of them writing that the vein was stiffened by a

00:39rod-like lattice structure which offered greater stabilization and control during flight what's

00:44more the researchers found that the tail vein of early pterosaurs developed from a single contiguous

00:49structure rather than a combined structure of scales and feather-like hide pterosaurs also had hollow

00:54bones like birds but that's also why understanding them has taken researchers so long it turns out

00:59the delicate bones are more prone to degradation and disappearing to the ravages of time

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