October 22, 2009

Innovations Report - Ancient Flying Pterosaur Also Sailed Seas

Written by: Jessica Behnham

At first glance, the 115-million-year-old pterosaur looks like a Cretaceous design disaster. With a tail rudder on its head and a spindly, bat-like body, Tapejara wellnhoferi may appear fit for nothing but extinction. However, researchers at Texas Tech University, the University of Kansas and University of Florida have found that the animal’s strange body actually made it a mastery of nature’s drawing boards. Not only could it walk and fly, but also it could sail across the sea.