By the time they were wiped out along with the dinosaurs, most winged pterosaurs had evolved from awkwardly airborne to lords of the skies, research published on Wednesday said.
Pterosaurs include some of the largest animals ever to take to the air.
Paleontologists are still piecing together details of the lives of these winged reptiles — neither dinosaurs nor birds.
Photo: AFP / UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM / MARK WITTON
In one of two studies published in Nature on pterosaurs, researchers in Britain found that the creatures were initially ungainly fliers.
However, the study, which used statistical methods, biophysical models and fossil records, said that pterosaurs perfected their flying skills.
“Pterosaurs really were incredible animals,” coauthor Joanna Baker of Reading University told reporters, adding that by the end they could likely have traveled “incredible distances.”
“As pterosaurs became more efficient at flight, they could soar for longer and longer distances before they would need to land,” she said.
Scientists have identified dozens of species of pterosaur scattered across the planet.
They range from creatures barely bigger than a sparrow to giants as tall as a giraffe and with the wingspan of a fighter jet.
Much of the increase in their flight efficiency was down to their expanding wingspan, Baker said.
“Over the millions of years they existed, wings got bigger and bigger — and generally speaking, the bigger the wing, the better an animal can fly,” she said.
Even considering the improvements associated with larger size, Baker said that their flight efficiency still increased by more than 50 percent.
The exceptions were among the giants of the pterosaur family, the azhdarchids.
Previous research has suggested that these huge animals spent more time on the ground than other pterosaurs, and the authors found that although they could fly, their performance in the air did not increase.
“Our results provide support for the idea that these creatures which dominated the skies may also have been on the path to staking out a claim on some of the land, as well,” Baker said.
In a second paper also published in Nature, researchers from the universities of Leicester and Birmingham analyzed the microscopic scratches and pits on the fossilized teeth of these flying predators to determine what they ate and how their diets changed.
The study looked at 17 species of pterosaur, and compared the marks on their teeth to modern crocodilians and monitor lizards.
“Consumption of crunchy foods will create rough textures, while consumption of soft foods will create smoother textures,” lead author Jordan Bestwick said.
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