Even if the wings had hair (unlikely, as has been mentioned), long fur/fuzz is unlikely to have the structural strength required to resist aerodynamic loads. Hair simply doesn't make for a very good spoiler. John Conway already mentioned some viable methods for warping the wing. It turns out that pterosaur wings could change shape in a number of ways, though I do agree that it is not immediately obvious/intuitive when looking at them for the first time.
There is one way that the fuzz/hair on pterosaurs could be aerodynamically useful, however, and that is in the production of a turbulent boundary layer.
A nice, "outside the box" type question. Good to see more people thinking about pterosaurs!
Cheers,
--Mike H.
----- Original Message ----- From: Glen Ledingham <glenled@yahoo.com> Date: Monday, October 15, 2007 2:38 pm Subject: Pterosaur Fur To: dinosaur@usc.edu
If pterosaur wing fur/fuzz was long enough and if it could be erected as mammal fur can, perhaps it could have served as an aerodynamic spoiler for changing flight attitudes. This would be easier than warping the wing, which looks difficult with the single-finger leading edge.
Just an idea from an amateur, thrown out for dissection by the experts.
Glen Ledingham