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Re: poling dangers



or is it possible pterosaurs employed
other means of getting themselves airborn?

I'd lay odds that different sized pterosaurs used a number of different techniques to launch. And that some species may have used more than one technique (particularly the little guys). I do prefer the primarily front leg driven launch as being primary for the very heavily loaded species.



I agree that launch techniques probably varied, though I would go out on a limb and suggest that all pterosaurs (even small ones) probably preferred forelimb-based launches when launching from the ground. This does not apply to marine species launching from the water, or arboreal launches. Generally speaking, though, I just don't see much of a mechanical advantage to using the hindlimbs, even in small pterosaurs, to get off the ground. The "runway" style launch is probably specific to birds; a result of their bipedal morphology. Overall, the differences in flight and launch are probably greater between birds and pterosaurs than most casual observers would expect. I would hypothesize that this held true even at smaller body sizes.


Cheers,

--Mike Habib