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Ancient trail break that many pterosaurs were just as well-fixed walk on the ground as they were flying through the sky during the age ofdinosaurs , a new study find .
Pterosaurs , informally called " pterodactyls , " were flying reptiles that rule the sky when dinosaurs dominated the land . However , new enquiry has discovered that flying reptile diversified during the heart of the Jurassic period ( 201 million to 145 million years ago ) and acquire to walk more efficaciously on four limbs , using their hands and foot .
Tracks left by pterosaurs such as the comb-jawed pterosaurs (Balaeonognathus) suggest that these animals were comfortable living on the ground.
The findings were published May 1 in the journalCurrent Biology , and support decades - old evidence from the fossil record . Researchers also matched antecedently unnamed raceway to specific pterosaur groups , offer a new window into their lives .
" footmark extend a unparalleled opportunity to study pterosaurs in their lifelike surroundings , " sketch lead authorRobert Smyth , a doctoral researcher at the University of Leicester in the U.K. , say in a statement . " They reveal not only where these creatures lived and how they move , but also put up clues about their behaviour and day-after-day activities in ecosystems that have long since fell . "
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Many pterosaur field have focalise on their flight and alimentation . However , investigator have uncovered many fossilized pterosaur rails in recent decades , which represent a unique and untapped resource , according to the study .
The problem with pterosaur tracks — or any other extinct animate being path — is that it ’s difficult for researchers to know which species or group left them behind . Fossilization is rare , and investigator typically do n’t detect bone and cut alongside each other , which fossilize underdifferent conditions .
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For the raw report , researchers create 3D models of pterosaur tracks and liken them with different pterosaur skeleton . They identified three distinct pterosaur track types and linked them to three know groups : ctenochasmatoids , dsungaripterids and neoazhdarchians . The neoazhdarchian group includedQuetzalcoatlus northropi , one of thelargest pterosaurs — and with child quick creature — to ever live .
They used this analysis to show that neoazhdarchian footmark were present in coastal and inland regions , suggesting that the animal was often on the earth , living in the same surround as dinosaur , according to the statement .
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