Dinosaur pole-vaulted itself into the sky

Published on Sunday 14 November 2010 14:25

Scientists said they have disproved claims that enormous prehistoric winged beasts could not fly, with new evidence that they "pole-vaulted" themselves into the sky.

Palaeontologists have studied how the giant pterosaur, which was as big as a giraffe, could fly.

They found that the reptiles took off by using the powerful muscles of their legs and arms to push off from the ground, effectively pole-vaulting over their wings.

Once airborne they could fly huge distances and even cross continents, the scientists claim.

Dr Mark Witton, a palaeontologist from the University of Portsmouth, said: "Most birds take off either by running to pick up speed and jumping into the air before flapping wildly, or if they're small enough, they may simply launch themselves into the air from a standstill.

"Previous theories suggested that giant pterosaurs were too big and heavy to perform either of these manoeuvres and therefore they would have remained on the ground.

"But when examining pterosaurs the bird analogy can be stretched too far. These creatures were not birds, they were flying reptiles with a distinctly different skeletal structure, wing proportions and muscle mass.

"They would have achieved flight in a completely different way to birds and would have had a lower angle of take-off and initial flight trajectory.

"The anatomy of these creatures is unique."

The research, published today in the international Public Library of Science journal, PLoS ONE, follows claims that pterosaurs were too heavy to take off like birds. The researchers suggest that the creatures, with up to 50kg of forelimb muscle, could easily have launched themselves into the air despite their massive size and weight.

Previous theories have asserted that giant pterosaurs could have been six metres tall with a wingspan of up to 12 metres but the researchers argue that five metres high with a 10-metre wingspan would have been more realistic.

Dr Michael Habib from Chatham University USA said: "By using their arms as the main engines for launching instead of their legs, they use the flight muscles, the strongest in their bodies, to take off and that gives them potential to launch much greater weight into the air."