How Did Pterosaurs Walk?
#Pterosaur Ptracks!
How did pterosaurs walk? That has been a question asked since the first one was found. Clearly they were excellent fliers, but their acetabulum and femoral head angle are... weird. To a sauropod lad at least :-).
Were they bipedal? Quadrupedal? For years talks were given, papers were presented, arguing for both sides. What we needed were tracks, which finally did show up.
I don’t know where first, but I recall incredible tracks from South Korea showing, like these from Utah, the hind foot is flat on the ground, like ours (plantigrade from my anthro days :-)), with four toes proudly shown off, while the three-toed hands were at an angle, which is what I am trying to convey with the arrows, not sure if it works though, but I’m always tinkering!
It bothers me immensely that 30’+ wingspanned #Quetzalcoatlus went from being a beautiful soaring #pterosaur to a predatory giraffe. I put aside my loathing of the imagery and read the fairly recent Quetzalcoatlus tome and, as much as I don’t like it, I can understand why they are now commonly illustrated in such a fashion from a biomechanic standpoint.
I have to think of them as giant storks (or killer giraffes) and ignore the fact those huge wings, with their leathery skin at risk of damage, somehow folded up out of harms way while they bopped about on four legs looking to spear land prey.
Imagining a world w/o the big rocky ending, could #pterosaurs have secondarily lost their wings and flight? I don’t think so, that wing is their fourth finger. They already lost their pinky finger, and messing with the other digits would be embryologically problematic. Not impossible, but unlikely.
What if “thick membrane” or “minimal membrane” appeared? Suffering less wing injury and death, in a trade off for less flying capability, perhaps they leave more offspring and through time the wing changes? Longshot but perhaps. Nature is funny :-).
Thank you @utahdinosaurs, the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm, for a wonderful day! So much goodness in one place!
Artwork commissioned from @the.terrible.lizard.gallery
#FossilCrates