Only the young pterosaurs flew

[sculptor]

I ain't convinced that only young pterosaurs flew.
When Quetzalcoatlus flew the O2 content of the atmosphere was higher---perhaps over 32%(which would make it 50% higher than today's 21%)
That most likely helped them oxygenate while in flight.
O2 is a constraint on evolution. (especially size)
Of course---the debate as to what they ate rages on.
so
How important was flight?

 

[nebel]

When Quetzalcoatlus flew the O2 content of the atmosphere was higher---perhaps over 32%(which would make it 50% higher than today's 21%)
That most likely helped them oxygenate while in flight.
O2 is a constraint on evolution. (especially size)
Of course---the debate as to what they ate rages on.
so
How important was flight?

That high oxygene portion in the air makes it a very fire-prone place to fly in. Other hollow structures, plants ( CO2 inhalers, oxygene exhalers) like the Giant Horse Tail lived then too. so, oxygene would be a poison for them. As an alternative one would think that gravity's effect was weaker, for all giants.
They must have been on a high quality diet, not flying cattle.
Flight for them, to have pushed the envelope to a point where we can not replicate it today, must have provided a unique advantage. Not just for bare survival, but a artistic like supremacy.
fascinating to think that these old giants regularly flew, when nothing like it -- does today. and
Look at those heads, that contained, and were part of the flight controls !
For that alone I am with you, it is more rewarding to think that the old, fully grown flew too, but I am sure only the young really kept at it.

 

[Write4U]

For that alone I am with you, it is more rewarding to think that the old, fully grown flew too, but I am sure only the young really kept at it.

They may seem to have been massive, but as with modern gliders, their bone structure was hollow and quite light. Once airborne their enormous wingspan allowed them to glide while barely needing to move them.[/quote]

Standing, such giants could reach the height of a modern giraffe. Traditionally, it was assumed that pterosaurs were extremely light relative to their size. Later, it was understood that this would imply unrealistically low densities of their soft tissues. Some modern estimates therefore extrapolate a weight of up to 250 kilograms (550 pounds) for the largest species.

Pterosaur

Pterosaur bones were hollow and air-filled, like those of birds. This provided a higher muscle attachment surface for a given skeletal weight. The bone walls were often paper-thin. They had a large and keeled breastbone for flight muscles and an enlarged brain able to coordinate complex flying behaviour.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterosaur#

PTERANODONS

Pterosaurs (flying reptiles) were the first vertebrates to take wing and evolved during the Late Triassic. They were superbly adapted for flight, with hollow, air-filled bones, a relatively large, birdlike brain (Seeley, 1871; Edinger, 1927; Wellnhofer, 1991), and membranous wings that were supported by the elongated fourth finger of each hand.

In the much larger pteranodons, their upper bodies were stiffened by rigidly binding the fused dorsal vertebrae, ribs, scapulacoracoid and sternum together into a solid structure (notarium) that supported the large muscles needed to power their wings. Some smaller pterosaurs were apparently covered with “fur-like” bristles and it is likely that they were "warm-blooded" to some extent. Besides the elongated “wing-finger,” they had three clawed fingers on each hand, and four clawed toes on each foot. The smallest known pterosaur (Pterodactylus) was about the size of an American robin, and one of the largest (Quetzalcoatlus) had a wingspread as large as a light airplane (11-12 m/ 36-39 ft.).

http://oceansofkansas.com/pteranodon.html

 

[nebel]

They may seem to have been massive, but as with modern gliders, their bone structure was hollow and quite light. Once airborne their enormous wingspan allowed them to glide while barely needing to move them.[/quote

some of the modern gliders have actually water tanks to make them heavier. it takes > 50 hp for takeoff. yes, modern birds of modest size, 2 m wingspread often fly without much beating of wings, Albatrosses, vultures. and,
that is quite an airbrake cranium in the first image, can not give that a nod of design approval. They seem to have huge noses, smelling the stench of carrion rising in the thermals they soared.

Hope these are not Piltdown type re creations.

 

[nebel]

They may seem to have been massive, but as with modern gliders, their bone structure was hollow and quite light. Once airborne their enormous wingspan allowed them to glide while barely needing to move them

here is an idea, about the very young flying very soon after hatching, unlike birds today. New Scientist mag.
.
baby pterosaurs could fly within minutes of hatching from their eggs
LIFE 22 July 2021
By Michael Marshall

An artist’s impression of a flock of adult and hatchling flamingo-like pterosaurs, Pterodaustro guinazui, which lived in Argentina

Mark Witton



Baby pterosaurs could probably fly within hours or even minutes of hatching. Their wings were already ideally suited for powered flight, according to a new analysis of fossil wing bones.

“We’re not the first people to say this,” says Darren Naish at the University of Southampton in the UK. “The main strength of our study is it’s combining several different lines of evidence.”

Pterosaurs were flying reptiles related to the dinosaurs, and which lived alongside them. They include Quetzalcoatlus which, with its 10-metre wingspan, was the largest flying animal known to have existed.


But even the largest pterosaurs didn’t start out that way. They hatched from eggs, at which point even the largest species were no bigger than a modern gull.

Palaeontologists have argued for years over how soon young pterosaurs could fly. Some have argued that they were incapable of flight when they first hatched, like most modern birds, and only took to the air after many weeks or even months.







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Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/articl...es-of-hatching-from-their-eggs/#ixzz71gKzgStZ

 

[nebel]

second thought: they were really like manta rays, giant wing flapping underwater swimmers,
eating fish, like the one found in Australia. surely not catching flying fish. water buoyancy supporting those giant heads.
The young, while muscle power could work flew to new locations, mature adults lazed away in the lagoons.
flying submarines, nature had it first.

 

[nebel]

here you have it:

University of Portsmouth. "Tiny pterosaurs dominated Cretaceous skies: The babies of giant pterosaurs - known as flaplings - overshadowed their small adult rivals.." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 October 2021. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211027122040.htm>.

 

[nebel]

There you have it, 8 feet span, doable.

 

[Write4U]

O2 is a constraint on evolution. (especially size)

I read an article in Science Daily and I believe the tests on small micro-organism that require a minimal amount of oxygen or none are completely inapplicable to evolutionary processes in large complex organisms that live longer and require higher oxygen densities.

Did Earth's early rise in oxygen help multicellular life evolve?
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210518205459.htm
No change in a million bacteria is not an indication of relatively large changes in 10 complex organisms.

AFAIK the great oxygenation period was detrimental to anaerobic organisms, but essential to larger aerobic organisms.

 

[nebel]

from the BBC: "Despite that, Prof Ortiz told the BBC that this hunter likely spent most of its time on the ground."

yeah, crouching. , on all fours, or . The laws of gravity must have underwent a drastic change , for this creature to even make miningful jumps. imho