At the cinema, they swoop through the air and circle ominously overhead with their razor-sharp bills.
But in fact, the flying dinosaurs which feature in King Kong and Jurassic Park would have struggled to get off the ground, researchers believe.
After analysing the flight of 28 birds, scientists from Tokyo University say the pterodactyl, which weighed a quarter of a ton, would not have been able to flap its wings fast enough to stay in the air - and could only glide relatively short distances from clifftops.
Myth? Many believed that pterodactyls were the largest animals to ever have flown, but an expert now says they were simply too heavy.
Read the rest on the DailyMail.
# Posted by Michelle Moran @ |
Sunday, October 05, 2008