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Ancient Reptile Had Wings Like a Fighter Jet
anthemaniac writes "A reptile that lived 225 million years ago had triangular-shaped wings like the delta-wings of some jets. At least that's what a new computer model suggests. Researcher have generated several possible shapes for the wings of Sharovipteryx mirabili before, so this is just the latest guess (based on one fossil). Last fall NatGeo reported that the first biplane configuration was on a dinosaur. Maybe airplane designers should delve into the fossil record a little more."
I would find that a true delta configuration would be unlikely as there would be little evolutionary advantage to developing an inherently less stable "wing" configuration for the low speed flying that this creature would be doing.
....... unlikely in this creature.
The whole reason that flight engineers started adopting the delta wing configuration is that it allowed the shockwave for supersonic flight to be better controlled flight by moving the leading edge of the wing back behind the terminus. This is great for high speed flight, but miserable for low speed flight as it requires very high stall speeds that would be
Furthermore, if one looks at just about any flying creature now or in the past, the leading edge of their "wing" has always been protected by bone, feather or both. To have an unprotected membrane as the leading edge of the "wing" that could be easily damaged would be devastating to the aerodynamic properties and the overall fitness of the organism. From these reasons, I would be much more likely to believe the first alternative reconstruction of Sharovipteryx mirabilis where the membranes could be protected and even gathered up when not in use, a function that would not be possible with standard articulation of the bones as presented in the figures of Dykes representation.
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Is this some sort of religiously inspired ID nonsense?
You know, I have come up with the perfect compromise for the creationists. We scientists will gladly start using "might have evolved" and "may have lived millions of years ago" if you will change the Bible to say "Moses may have parted the red sea" and "God could have said 'let there be light'".
A reptile that lived 225 million years ago had triangular-shaped wings like the delta-wings of some jets.
No, some jets have delta-wings like reptiles that lived 225 million years ago.
First off, we don't think it flew; we think it glided. Second, the reason we think that because of the structure of it's back legs and hips.
Animals have to be good at getting around. This animal's front legs are way shorter than its back legs, so it wasn't running on all fours. They don't say so in the article, but probably scientists looked at the structure of its knee joints, hips joints, and feet and decided there wasn't very much mobility -- therefore it was easily lunch running on two legs. Finally, its hip, knee, and foot joint stucture and long, thin leg bones probably look much like modern gliders.
From this wikipedia article, there seems to be some debate as to whether it hopped and glided, or climbed trees and glided. It also seems as if some imprint of the rear membrane was in the fossil.
But basically the method that I outlined above is how you tell how fossil animals moved. You look at their bone structures and decide what they were mechanically capable of, knowing that they had to be good enough to stay away from predators. Look at modern animal's means of locomotion, and decide what is most similar.
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
Does anyone else see something wrong with basing something on one bone that's been fossilized? When mainstream scientists can't even explain exactly how these bones lasted as long as they think they did?
Go down to your local DMV and spend a morning observing a more or less random sample from the general population. My guess is you'll drop that view right quick and consider the alternative hypothesis that you're hanging out in places where young, attractive people tend to congregate.
Everything's more attractive when you're 23...
especially when you're drunk.