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Palaeontology

Prehistoric ‘runway’ discovered

By T.K. Randall
August 21, 2009 · Comment icon 10 comments

Image Credit: Mark Witton, Darren Naish
Scientists have uncovered a prehistoric "runway" in the limestone deposits of an ancient lagoon that would have been used by a flying pterosaur over 140 million years ago as it took off in to the prehistoric skies.
A prehistoric runway for flying pterosaurs has been discovered for the first time. Scientists uncovered the first known landing tracks of one of these extinct flying reptiles at a site dubbed "Pterosaur Beach," in the fine-grained limestone deposits of an ancient lagoon in southwestern France dating back 140 million years to the Late Jurassic.


Source: MSNBC | Comments (10)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by 747400 15 years ago
Huh, "used by dinosaurs". A likely story. They were used by UFOs, obviously* (*This was before they'd developed VTOL technology).
Comment icon #2 Posted by Lady Amethyst 15 years ago
This is amazing and the runway is still there after all this time.
Comment icon #3 Posted by Ell 15 years ago
Ridiculous. It was probably the shelf were the beast swam ashore. It stopped swimming and felt for the bottom, then made a hop and next settled on all fours and walked up the beach.
Comment icon #4 Posted by Drev 15 years ago
Ridiculous. It was probably the shelf were the beast swam ashore. It stopped swimming and felt for the bottom, then made a hop and next settled on all fours and walked up the beach. Huh, they were swimming? The article assumes the progress of landing and how the prints were made, nothing about swimming there..
Comment icon #5 Posted by Benz 15 years ago
why on earth would birds need a 'runway'.....
Comment icon #6 Posted by Homo-Superior 15 years ago
why on earth would birds need a 'runway'..... They're not birds, they're not even dinosaurs. And these animals could get huge; large as or larger than some small aircraft. The animals had framework skeletons with taut skin membranes covered in a hair or proto-feather like structure, though not a true feather. A "runway" for them is only an area clear of enough debris and vegetation to run without catching that delicate membraneous skin, generating lift for take-off. We're talking animals at least 4 times as large as eagles.
Comment icon #7 Posted by mouse888 15 years ago
hmmm how do they know its a runaway?
Comment icon #8 Posted by DigitalDreamer 15 years ago
Sweet, Now we know more about the flying godzillasaurus
Comment icon #9 Posted by jesspy 15 years ago
why on earth would birds need a 'runway'..... So they can show off their latest fashions DUH!.....oh wait wrong runway
Comment icon #10 Posted by goddessofissues 15 years ago
shows a common form of conscience and rational thinking within this species. some one mentions aliens. maybe they were shown? who know. But this is an amazing find.


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