PTEROSAURS, the reptiles that ruled the air 200 million years ago, had a neat aerodynamic trick. Like aircraft today, they used wing flaps to generate extra lift.
The discovery may help clear up an enduring mystery of pterosaur flight. Calculations based on what was known from fossils failed to explain how pterosaurs could have generated enough lift to become airborne from a standing start, or fly slowly enough to land without breaking their bones. Yet fossilised pterosaur tracks show that they could do both these things.
The riddle has been solved by Matthew Wilkinson and colleagues in the animal flight…
