China News Service, April 25. According to Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, the paleontology research team of the Chinese University of Hong Kong recently analyzed the fossil laser fluorescence imaging of an ancient pterosaur and found that its body structure allows it to use its limbs to take off on the water like a duck. to get rid of the influence of water surface tension.
The analysis revealed that this innate talent dates back to the Jurassic period as early as 150 million years ago, 30 million years earlier than previous discoveries.
The findings have been published in Scientific Reports, a natural science journal under Nature.
Aurorazhdarchid was a small pterosaur that lived in the late Jurassic period with a wingspan of only about 40 cm.
It is similar to the eating habits of many pterosaurs, it will dive into the water to prey on aquatic organisms, and it will also engage in other aquatic activities.
Therefore, scientists believe that they have the ability to take off on the water, so that it can soar in the sky.
However, the surface tension of water will attract objects like glue, and small creatures will be more affected.
Therefore, scientists have not been able to understand how this small pterosaur took off from the water.
Assistant Professor Wen Jiaqi of the School of Life Sciences at CUHK and his international team used a new laser fluorescence imaging technology to analyze the details of the wings and webs of a small pterosaur.
Wen Jiaqi said that the laser fluorescence imaging of the fossil provides high-resolution details, making it easier to carefully analyze the body structure of the small pterosaur, "We input these research data into the aerodynamic model and calculate the body structure of the small pterosaur. It uses its limbs to launch quadrupedal water like a duck to get rid of surface tension."
Before the study was published, scientists had thought that only large pterosaurs living by the sea had the ability to use their limbs to take off on the water, such as Anhanguera pterosaurs found in Brazil with a wingspan of more than ten meters.
This study shows that small pterosaurs were also capable of taking off on the water, and this ability to take off on the surface of the limbs appeared 30 million years earlier than previous estimates.
Co-author Michael B. Habib, Ph.D., of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, USA, said that the paper adds a new perspective to the way of life of pterosaurs, and it should be assumed that pterosaurs would have often preyed on oceans, lakes and rivers like modern birds.