Why pteranodon extinct

The answer? D: none of the above! Because they flew and their front limbs stretch out to the sides, they are not dinosaurs. Pterosaurs lived from the late Triassic Period to the end of the Cretaceous Period, when they went extinct along with dinosaurs. Pterosaurs were carnivores, feeding mostly on fish and small animals.

Many had hooked claws and sharp teeth that they used to grab their prey. Pterosaurs evolved into dozens of individual species. Some were as large as F fighter jets, while others were as small as paper airplanes. They were also the first animals after insects to evolve powered flight. They were not in a slow decline, but were suddenly and irrevocably erased while other fliers—namely, birds—arced to triumph. Size, it turns out, might have made the difference.

Pterosaurs lived at a huge range of body sizes, but by the end of the Cretaceous most were quite large. Living that large may have made pterosaurs more vulnerable to extinction. Not that the pterosaur die-off is that simple. Most late Cretaceous pterosaurs were large, Martin-Silverstone says, but not all.

Or perhaps feeding habits made the difference. Another study, published in , suggested that avian dinosaurs survived their relatives because they were small seed eaters and better able to cope with the available produce in the wake of the extinction.

The same reasoning might explain why, despite both being capable of flight, birds lived while pterosaurs perished. Or we can look at the aftermath, and what happened once birds were the primary fliers around. The fact that pterosaurs were large, and may have prevented birds from achieving comparable sizes, may have forced birds to inadvertently evolve in ways that would give them an advantage under pressure.

However, it was later indicated that pneumatic skeletons are not necessarily related to light bone mass. As I am not a paleontologist, I have limited knowledge about this aspect.

Please refer to chapters 4 and 6 of 5 for more detailed explanations by paleontologists. More recent studies in the s have used different approaches to the estimation of body weight, including investigating the relationship between dry skeletal mass and body mass that is consistent across birds and mammals 6 , the allometric relationship between weight and wingspan obtained from seabirds 7 , and the construction of the three-dimensional contours of pterosaurs 8.

These body mass estimates showed body densities closer to those of extant birds than previous estimates. Your email address will not be published. Add your comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Toggle navigation. Related posts Related preLists. Selected by Sophia Friesen. Background and context: When picturing a pterosaur, one of the winged reptiles that lived throughout most of the Mesozoic Era, most people imagine it in majestic flight, soaring high above the ancient landscape.

Key findings: Quetzalcoatlus and Argentavis were poor dynamic soarers, and the dynamic soaring ability of Pteranodon and Pelagornis depended on uncertain morphological variables Dynamic soaring harnesses differences in wind speed at different altitudes over the sea surface.

Except for Quetzalcoatlus, the ancient fliers were excellent thermal soarers Modern birds such as hawks and condors use thermal soaring, circling in thermal updrafts to gain altitude, then gliding over and down to the next updraft.

Why I liked this paper: As a non-paleontologist, my primary experience of extinct creatures is through the visually detailed reconstructions that are common in popular media.

References: Sachs G Minimum shear wind strength required for dynamic soaring of albatrosses. Ibis 1 : Palmer C Flight in slow motion: aerodynamics of the pterosaur wing. On the size and flight diversity of giant pterosaurs, the use of birds as pterosaur analogues and comments on pterosaur flightlessness.

PLoS One 5 11 : e Henderson DM Pterosaur body mass estimates from three-dimensional mathematical slicing. J Vertebrate Paleontol 30 3 : Report Content. Author's response. Buckley, F. Veron, Structure of the airflow above surface waves. Delord, R. Phillips, Y. Jun 12, Jun 05, Recommended for you. Interdisciplinary research shows the spread of Transeurasian languages was due to agriculture Nov 10, Nov 09, Slave room discovered at Pompeii in 'rare' find Nov 06, Nov 03, Oct 29, Load comments 0.

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