Dinosaurs!!!

[Lief Erikson]

This thread is for general discussion of the dinosaurs. Debate involving their extinction is welcome. Conversation about various species or digs is welcome . They are such an exciting aspect of Earth's history, there should be a thread for them.

I will start this thread by bringing up an exciting new article I found on BBC today.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4223658.stm

Originally Posted by BBC News

Scientists are only now starting to recognise the astonishing size reached by pterosaurs, the flying reptiles that lived at the time of the dinosaurs.

New discoveries in the Americas suggest some had wingspans of 18m (60ft).

But there was nothing ugly about the way they moved through the air, according to expert Dr David Martill, of the University of Portsmouth.

Their ability to utilise air currents, thermals and ground effects would astonish aeroplane designers, he said.

"Pterosaurs were beautifully engineered," he told BBC News.

"Their skeletons were exceedingly light: their bones were very thin and hollow, and those hollows were filled with an air-sack system. They'd also got rid of their reptilian scales and their wing membrane was very, very thin.

"All this meant there wasn't that much weight to get off the ground, and so they probably flew really rather well," the researcher said.

The oldest pterosaur fossils date back 220 million years and scientists have now identified several different forms - some with teeth, some without; and some sporting elaborate head crests.

With their membranous wings attached to their legs, there was something bat-like about them, and their long beaks look like some bird species - but scientists stress they have no line to any living creatures.

Indeed, there is still great debate about where exactly they should be placed in the evolution of life forms on Earth. Dr Martill told the British Association's Festival of Science in Dublin that new discoveries would help solve this riddle - and perhaps reveal just how big these beasts managed to grow.

60 feet!!! Now that's something I definitely did not know. I knew they grew huge, but my most recent information put the wingspread at about a third of that.