When Pterosaurs Walked
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- Опубликовано: 15 дек 2021
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If you know one thing about pterosaurs, it’s that they’re flyers. And while pterosaurs may be well-known for their domination of the skies in the Mesozoic Era, they didn’t live their entire lives in the air. So how did we figure this out? And what were they like when they finally came down?
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[Land Acknowledgement]
Many paleontological discoveries have been made on Indigenous land, often without the consultation, permission, or recognition of its original inhabitants. So we at PBS Eons want to acknowledge these peoples’ traditional and ongoing relationship with that land and with the fossils it contains.
In this episode, we refer to fossils from the ancestral homelands of the Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), Pueblos, and Diné Bikéyah Peoples.
Produced by Complexly for Digital Studios
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References: docs.google.com/document/d/1k...
Imagine being scooped up by one of these things… what a pterrible way to go!!
BADUM TSS!
Lol nice pun
Laughing audience sounds
*Laughing in pterosaur
Nice one 😂! You have my dad's sense of humor lol.
Pterosaurs are just some of the coolest extinct things yet discovered. The sheer thought of something the size of a giraffe standing up and taking off in the air is just insane. I really hope that we discover more about these amazing creatures and what could also be laying in wait to be discovered next…
Dang, this was gonna be my exact comment. Giraffe-size crane-beasts charging around the landscape and then leaping into the air is just mad.
My research is going to be focused on cloning pterosaurs and bringing them to this century
@@LuisSierra42
Flying giraffes, pooping on everything as they fly overhead? What's not to love? :)
@@LuisSierra42 lmfao reminds me of a Bill Engvall line "well I don't wanna meet the bird that can take a door off a jetliner. I thought they were extinct!"
Yea and we don't have anything like pterosaurus left
How about a whole video on exactly how pterosaurs flew, including takeoff and landing. I understand it's likely they did a lean-forward and arm spring to achieve lift, similar to vampire bats (whose terrestrial gait is very pterosaur-like). Imagine seeing an Azhdarchid taking off that way. Wow.
Your awesome!
Might be a better fit for YDAW
New study shows they can't flying for too long. Kinda like chicken
@@DogansPCRiot it took me a minute to get that. I don't subscribe to Your Dinosaurs Are Wrong but the algorithms keep suggesting it. I'll check it out.
@@DogansPCRiot stop promoting random channels because no one asked
Wow, she nailed the Italian pronunciation of Collini. Like perfectly.
I suspect she speaks some Spanish. Maybe that helps.
Ichnotaxa like trackways don't get enough appreciation in my opinion. Sure, they may not be as swag as the fossilized bones and eggs, but they reveal a lot we wouldn't otherwise know about the amazing creatures that we'll never see alive.
At the Price, Utah Dino museum, they have a track way mounted above the walkway. As if you are being walked one as you scurry in the lower strata.
Fossilized trackways are the real living fossils, fossils that captured something that was alive at the time ^^
Given how awkward an albatross is when it takes flight, it must have been quite the show watching these giants launch themselves into the sky.
I’m
Likely more similar in mechanics to a bat than an albatross. As in they rock back in a four point stance then launch in one go rather than running up to speed
Eh... the problem that birds like the albatross have is that they only have two points to apply force to get themselves into the air (Their legs), so they need that kind of run-up to get lift to their wings so that they can take advantage of those limbs too.
With Pterosaurs, their wings were also able to be used for land-based locomotion, and the current best hypothesis for how larger species got in the air utilises a very different method to that of birds.
Basically, they would launch themselves off of their back limbs first, using their 'hands' (There's probably a specific term for what a Pterosaur's front digits were called, but I don't know it, so hands it is) to support their full body weight in a 'rocking' motion, before applying force from their front limbs to get them the rest of the way up into the air, where their wings took over.
I'm probably mis-explaining it, since it's been a while since I initially heard this idea. I think it was either Moth Light Media or possibly Eons themselves who did a video explaining it, so you can go check for that if you want.
Look for it, the current theory is that ptero's just "sat" in a certain posture, the launch position, tensed their muscles like an archer would do with his bow, and then letting go, they went off like the arrow flies.
/watch?v=CRk_OV2cDkk
Albatrosses are pretty ungainly on land, but that's due to their extreme specialization for life on the open ocean, not because of their size. There are plenty of birds of comparable size that have no problem taking flight or getting around on land. I don't think we can assume pterosaurs had trouble getting airborne or were ungainly on land just because of their size.
In the last 10 years, the process of figuring out what coloration ancient and/or extinct species had from fossil records has really picked up steam in the scientific community, an exploration of this topic (past assumptions vs current assumptions) would be most excellent. Playing off of the episode Eons: When Dinosaurs Chilled in the Arctic, the coloration of feathers and skin specifically.
In one of their earliest videos around 4 years ago, they discussed coloration of dinosaurs. It's called "What Colors Were Dinosaurs?" That might answer some of your questions. I would definitely love to have a new video on this subject that would go more in-depth than the old one.
That's what I'm getting at, the increase in technology and understanding has expanded greatly in the last 4-5 years. Some very exciting finds just within the last couple of months.
That grin @8:27 tells me that she loves her job. 😊
What a fantastic journey into paleontological history -- I love when this channel focuses not only on the ancient animals, but how we know what we know about them. Excellent as always !
That's what they do best!
Pterosaurs probably occupied all the same niches as birds and bats do today. There were probably "vulture" pterosaurs that sought out carcasses, fruit pterosaurs, small pterosaurs that fed on insects in the air, and some that spent most of their time fishing. It would be so interesting to have seen all that play out.
That does seem likely given the flexibility their body design provides. Heck, they may have occupied even more niches, as I could see them being great aerial hunters, but I could also see them spending most of their time on land and simply using their wings to travel to where food is. It's highly possible different Pterosaur species would have adapted to different lifestyles to occupy different niches.
Mark Witton, scientist who also does a lot of drawing of ptero's published a book recently (quess what title : ). He reckons the larger ptero's lived a bit like Marabou or Shoebilled Stork, both big birds that fly towards locations were much prey can be expected (like around flooding rivers plains, edges of burnt areas or location were many dino eggs hatched simultaneously (like todays turtle beaches)) to feed on fleeing small animals or young hatchlings.
Seeing how large they could grow, this must have been a highly succesful strategy. Like our blue whale grows to about the largest size a sea dwelling beast can grow, the largest ptero's may have been grown to the ultimate size their body plan could do.
@@reuireuiop0 I always imagine the large pterosaurs hunting like ground hornbills, don't think the big boys depended on scavinging, but their enormous beakes they could kill big prey.
Many were certainly stork like or heron like
@@reuireuiop0 I could see that. If they could move at a decent speed on land, they may not have needed to master precision aerial strikes like a hawk or falcon. All they would need to do is move to where food is, which also means they could easily move on if food is scarce in a particular area.
At first I thought their hollow bones would pose a weakness as they don't appear as though they could stand up well to a big predator (relatively speaking, as they are larger than almost all creatures around today), but then I realized that's another area where flight is a huge advantage. If a T-Rex or something showed up, they could just leave. That would mean leaving behind scavenged food, but again, they had the means to just go somewhere else to look for more.
I remember an activity we did in 7th grade science where the teacher asked us to draw a scientist. Predictably, everyone drew Einstein, or a chemist in a lab coat. Seeing the host of this show, I'm glad that kids today will think that this is what a scientist can look like.
The truth is, scientists, especially today, come in all forms. It's just taken some time for people to get used to it.
Pterosaurus and Spinosaurus discoveries have made me love them more.
Still like Triceratops best, I hope Paleontologists find more things about them.
You and I have very similar tastes in dinos! 😁
I really appreciate the quality that goes in to these videos.
This episode has such amazing paleo art, I love how it really brings these creatures to life
The importance of trackway finds is immense. They give us not only insight into how these animals moved, but their behaviour as well.
I don't know why this episode is very charming. Maybe the thought of a dinosaur that 'learn to walk properly' from the accumulation of data made it so. Maybe because it also shows how any branch of science, like our knowledgeable host Michelle says, painstakingly "corrects itself" over time.
I could listen to Michelle's voice for hours and hours. It's so captivating and beautiful. I love this channel!!
Eons just made my day better!!! Thank you! 💗🦖🦕
Time mends all wounds as they say. 😉
@@dumbledoor9293 I adore you. Thank you for helping me smile.
This thread gave me cavities.
I always look for new PBS eons videos
I would love an episode about dinosaur behavior that makes them more real. Hearing about nesting, migration, and ways they move really bring the skeleton in my mind to life. I know it’s vague but just a thought 😅
Problem is we have no idea what their behaviours were
@@jacobkudrowich Eh, not exactly true. There's a great deal we don't know about their behavior, but there are pieces we know, and other pieces we can speculate with a fair amount of support for our opinions. It's not like the only things we've ever been able to conclude about them is how they're shaped... both because trace fossils tell us some things about behavior and also because some details of body fossils can tell us what the animal can do best. Usually, what it does best is also what it does often; that's how it survives.
Pterosaurs aren't dinosaurs
@@kyptos2252 No, they're not, but there's nothing in this comment that suggests they are. A lot of people post requests for future episodes in the comments on the current one... the request and the topic of the current episode don't necessarily have anything to do with each other. I might just as easily post a comment here asking for a future episode about Devonian tetrapods.
@@kyptos2252 Um, Nobody is suggesting that pterosaurs are dinosaurs? We’re just throwing ideas for the next video.
What an incredible episode! The tracks are invaluable, the bones are slight and elegant! What a gift to be able to watch Eons!
It would be a lot of work, but you guys should do a longer video on what we know of the dinosaur tree of life and how they interacted.
Pterosaurs are not dinosaurs
@@kyptos2252 where did i say pterosaurs? Can i not request videos without people pulling the "Uh actually" meme on me?
@@kyptos2252 Okay now you’re being a troll.
@@KhanMann66 laugh out loud no proof
@@kyptos2252 : You're right..
Your jokes are unfunny.
I had a pigeon make a deposit on my freshly washed truck, I could only imagine how big the mess a pteradactyl would make.
Better a pigeon than a full grown albatross squeezing out liquified fish goop.
I'm so grateful we live in a time where we can sort of see into how the past once was. It's fascinating. We are the torch barers of even this previously existed art of life.
Im still hoping that Steve is okay
He just went for a walk with the pterosaurs.
michelle started rough and i think she had a hard time getting used to being a host, and finding her voice. i think she was a delight in this episode. it was very enjoyable to see her. keep up the great work!
Agreed, she was a bit stiff coming in, but that should be expected. It's cool to see her slowly come into it haha.
Hope to see her more! Love the content!
Honestly, i just don’t get into the episode if the new hosts are part of it. The content is always solid, but the delivery just isn’t there.
@@AdamScott-ty2lf I agree %100
I just I can't get into the content
@@MrHelleborus imo people should remember this isn’t big-business television, it’s a PBS RUclips. These people are non-actors who have to learn on the job. Michelle will keep growing into the role like Blake and Kallie had to.
I think the script writing and editing got better. This was a great episode. All new "TV" hosts have to find their feet but I think she's basically already there.
A couple of those pterosaurs look like egrets crossed with a Muppet. Now I can't stop imagining one dancing down a beach to the tune of Mahna Mahna.
When you think about the sheer diversity of life that exists on present-day Earth and then about how rare fossils are and how most environments are completely unconducive to fossilization, you realize the insane degree to which paleontologists must be just scratching the surface.
... pun intended? 😏😁
I don't comment often. Sorry, that's my bad! I just wanted to reassure the whole Eons team: hey, you're all doing amazing work and thank you so much for creating such interesting, informative videos which entertain while they educate. And I will keep all of those terrible, terrible jokes in my list of "Bad jokes and puns that will help me identify other nerdy sciency geeks".
Pterosaurs have always been my favorite of the bunch. :)
Perfect timing, that second Quetzalcoatlus species just got named.
I always wonder what kind of mass distribution giant pterosaurs must have had because pictures of them always look like they'd be so front heavy
Looks can be deceiving.Hollow tissues are very light and surprisingly strong.
Large pterosaur bottoms?
🎵I like big butts yet I still can fly
You other fliers can't deny
When those wings swoop in with an itty bitty face, and a round one in it's wake
Fossils get sprung 🎵
In comparison to birds they definitely are. Large pterosaurs had very heavily developed forelimbs, as they used them for both launch and flight, whereas bids use their hindlimbs for launching
@@Magmafrost13 I'm pretty sure he's referring to how the head and neck both look too large for the animals
@@TragoudistrosMPH : 0.O . . .
LMFAO Forever !! 😂
I really appreciated humble approach to facts and no "jokes" .. okay, humble approach to facts will be enough.
The real terror birds, imagine a full sized hungry one of those hovering over you?
😱
Pterosaurs are truly fascinating animals, they were the first vertebrates that learned to fly.
I deeply appreciate your open recognition, at the conclusion of each episode, of the indigenous connection to fossils- through land, and tribal occupation. You are a delight, Eons!!!
PBS Eons *and* Moth Light Media posting videos on the same day? Merry Christmas to me!
I love your topics! If I could wish for anything, I’d love a longer episode. You really give lots of information and make it entertaining as well. Thanks for all you do.
To be fair the pterosaur is still a creature swimming through a fluid so his interpretation that they were aquatic creatures still kind of makes a bit of sense. We see animals with huge fins that swim through the water which is a fluid and air is a fluid also. So hey I'll give him a good guess.
William e Stokes live the dream and will be remembered for that. Good job my man
That pun made me waaaaay happier than it should great content I always look forward to seeing stuff from you guys
Oh so they trundled along like giraffes with huge, long, fuzzy, uncanny necks that ended in massive spears that could swallow a man whole or at least turn him into a kebab. Thanks, I hate it, the past is a nightmare.
prehistoric creatures are still mysterious in a lot of ways even with so many years of studying.
I love how awesome this video really was.
I love this host's delivery - the pace, intonation, and enunciation are very engaging and yet professional. I'm delighted everytime she hosts a new episode.
4:45
Okay this is really fascinating.. Today I learnt that trace fossils are assigned separate scientific names of their own, this is why I love this channel.
Yuup, that was pretty cool too learn :0
Me too.
I love Eons.
Love this pterosaur goodness!
I really love these videos. Piecing together what an ancient creature was like is so wild.
It's something I realised watching this video, but is true for basically everyone presenting and it's that we have a full body shot of the speaker a lot, but they don't seem to be allowed to move their legs at all and I just thought it was funny contrasting how all the presenters are generally lively and active with their hands yet frozen in place and stiff with their legs :D
They shoot in portrait in front of a green screen. If they move their feet they go out of shot.
I thought for sure this would be related to the recent pterosaur discovery, but this was something else that I didn't expect. A pleasant surprise.
it could be related to a reasend paper that could be described as somebodys Lifework. BenG Thomas coverd it in 7DoS.
your episode about quetzalcoatl is one of my favorites, so i was excited to see this one :D
An interesting video.
I'd also like to congratulate the presenter for having progressed so far. A confident and well spoken presentation. As a retired teacher, I know how difficult it is to develop a relaxed approach in this kind of situation.
They started out okay, got better, and now they are just fantastic. And it seems like such a short period of time, too @__@
When I saw those standing pterosaurs, I thought of the wyverns of Monster Hunter, like Rathalos. I wish flying reptiles were still alive today
I think I would like to see a collab between PBS Eons and Tasting History with Max Miller when it comes to food stuff most of us like to eat. One tells how the plant/animal came to be, and other tells how we humans found it and consumed it (along with some old recipe based on the said ingredient)!
I can easily imagine an episode of this on some citrus fruit or some herb used for seasoning.
@KitsuneiLord91 - You want to see Mr Miller roast up a haunch of pterosaur with a nice béchamel sauce? He'll have to catch one first.
By far my favorite dinosaurs. Some of these guys were as tall as giraffes. Imagine putting your baby to bed at night and while you're sound asleep a Quetzalcoatlus lands on the ground outside, smashes through your baby's second story window with its 5 foot long beak, and then like a pelican eating a fish it swallows your newborn whole while you can only helplessly watch on the baby monitor. If they lived in modern times they would be so terrifying.
Also: not dinosaurs. They're archosaurs but not dinosaurs.
They would be very terrifying but also with our modern weaponry more people at homes would have access to guns and with all our bombs/ machine guns and large missiles we'd get rid of that problem pretty easily.
What would be more tricky is if they started to purposely stay in small cities or villages because they know we wouldn't attack, then again there are tranquilizer darts and we could enhance the formula pretty quickly. If it's enough to kill an elephant at a certain dose we could definitely down one of them with a higher dose and exterminate them that way.
Ofc I think we as humans would make things more complicated because animal rights activists would say to keep some of them alive 💀 and I say hell no to that because we are not doing another Jurassic park
@@AndrewTBP wait are archosuars and dinosaurs like related in the sense that foxes are to wolves? They are both canines but different variations? Eh something like that?
@@MossyMozart thank you!
Track.... Ha!
You're going out on a limb with that pun aren't you?
I was just winging that one.
Enjoyable presentation. Fascinating topic. Thanks for sharing.👍
This is cool and all but as a indigenous person, I appreciate the recognisation given at the end of video's for native peoples.
Some pterosaurs were also able to swim and dive in the water, since they didn’t have the skimming beaks like some seabirds do.
i wonder if they wer Pterosaurs who completly commited to a marine Lifestyle, but i honestly don't see it happen because of the Predators
Thanks for de disclaimer at the end about indigenous land, very refreshing to see❤️
Love the information on what tribal territory these came from
I'm incredibly excited for this video, but before anything else I need to *scream* about how adorable that dress is!!!
Okay, back to Pterosaurs!
Their pronunciation of Cosimo Alessandro Collini is so satisfying.
How absolutely wonderful! Of course, when people first started analysing these animals they were seeing the fossils of, the work of reconstructing into bizarre animals bones that could not be associated with current fauna must have been a "most exquisite torture" for any enthusiast, until more and more palaeontologists had entered the field and left their mark; to the point that now, you can talk about them with such certainty and can classify them with accuracy (always with the understanding that later knowledge may force re-evaluations) and predict their behaviours. It is amazing to hear of how one pterosaur landed from a flight, based on footprints that have survived; it is beyond comprehension that something so etherial as that can be preserved! Or that they were comfortable walking based on comparisons to birds... Animal size comparisons next to the presenter are just great and is much more striking than: "oh, it's 9m long and 3,5m to the shoulder". You and your colleagues bring them all to life more and more realistically (within the limits of the fossils we have) with all the accumulated knowledge of these few hundred years brought to bear on each animal, even adding significant anatomical details to enrich our understanding of their lives. What great programmes! Thank you.
Wow. As always. Thank you.
Thank you for the addition of a land recognition. 🙏🏽
I always love these videos. I have to say, I absolutely ADORE that dress! I don't usually like to comment on clothing or appearance, but that dress is amazing. Does anyone know what brand it is or where it may have been purchased?
To me it looked like it was dirty and stained. In in the middle it looks like a grease stain, and on the right middle some red stuff. Is that the pattern and I am just seeing it wrong?
I agree, it is such a pretty dress.
@@Crushnaut yeah, I noticed that too. I wanted it on my phone so I really couldn't tell.
@Jphanna Lightening - It seemed vintage to me. Contact PBS Eons and ask.
Very, VERY cool video. Wanted to observe that, though pterosaurs are emphatically not birds - there are some birds whose behavior MAY shed light on potential behaviors for those long gone creatures.
Albatross!
For one thing, they're among the biggest flying critters around today; for another they do spend a LOT of time on the wing - but they also spend time on the ground for nesting. Now, I obviously don't know if we have ways to test out this idea, but imagining wee baby pterosaurs waiting at a nest, the way a baby albatross will do, makes my brain happy!
Baby pterosaurs must have been just the cutest things!
This is already such a cool topic but I'm so excited to learn that this discovery was made in my state, Arizona! Birds and bats are such fascinating animals today, like every time I see a bird hopping around on the ground I can't help but stop to watch the motions of their legs, so I'm glad that there's so much scientific interest in pterosaurs too. Obviously any animal that flies has our attention since it's something humans can't do, but they're just so different from anything we know of existing today that it's so fun to learn about. Wonderful video 💕
Great enunciation. I appreciate the fluidity
Them walking on two legs is so much more intimidating 0.0
Really great historical information.
Amazing video as always! ❤️❤️❤️
Watching an interesting video about giant, winged bird-like creatures when you are scared of birds and should be going to bed very soon. Way to go... Hope I won't get any nightmares.
The giant pterosaurs are the most fascinating to me. I just wouldn't want to meet a live one in the wild.
Another great Video I never learned this much about the ancient past In school Or maybe I just didn't pay attention Thank you for all your great videos
pterosaurs have become my favorite pre-historic animals
love this lady's style.
Idk why but in my head I always think Quetzal Pretzel
I learn a lot from this
Maybe you guys could talk about how pterosaurs flew. It’s pretty interesting.
I believe they did with "How Pterosaurs Got Their Wings". It's a bit outdated though.
I really enjoy the Evolution of Pterosaurs and their one of my favorite prehistoric reptiles along with the fact that they are the first Vertebrates to take flight before Birds and Bats.
They not only walked, they galloped! The Quad Launch is how they are thought to lift off, using all 4 of their limbs to propel themselves into the air after picking up speed!
one of the ways
another may be a strong Push-up from stand and Bipedelism still might hold something for smaller tailed Species.
The survey was super easy guys! I hope you take time to do it!
Very nice video. I wish blessings to this channel
Music is always so good for these videos
loved this episode!
I'm so glad I found this channel 🥰
very cool episode!!!! can't get enough of these tasty pterosaur facts =3
I love all of these eons
I love this show.
Fascinating stuff.
those pterosaur hand-feet creep me out.
I did not know this before.
I'm irrationally afraid of these things and I have NO explanation for it. Something about them just gives me the heebie-jeebies.
I agree that it's hard to determine strict behavioral niches as there are no complete ecological analogues today, maybe generally but not exact. It would be nice to have a video about computer aided and other simulation techniques to figure out dinosaur motions and habits. Kudos to Eons.
Pterosaurs, prehistoric crocodilian creatures, and gorgonopsids freak me out! I'm glad I won't have to see any of them IRL, unless of course some scientists somewhere goes all Jurassic Park on us. 😅
Nature still scary. Always has been.
Great episode of a great series. Thank you 🦕😝🙏🤠
Great video! I learned a lot of new stuff! 🙌🙌