Textbook Images of Ancient Flying Reptiles Are Wrong

animals, dinosaurs, prehistoric reptiles, pterosaurs, flying dinosaurs, flying reptiles, physics of flying, pterosaur flight, — An illustrated reconstruction of the pterosaur Darwinopterus modularis. Reconstructions like these probably aren't the way the wings of these ancient flying reptiles are shaped. Wings like these wouldn't get off the giraffe sized creatures off the ground.

(Image credit: Mark Witton, University of Portsmouth.)

Updated at 2:40 p.m. ET Sept 29

With 23-foot wingspans and hefty bodies, the largest of the ancient airborne reptiles of the era of the dinosaurs might seem the unlikeliest of flying machines. In fact, as commonly depicted, the largest of these animals, called pterosaurs, would have been unable to sustain flight, according to new research.

For the first time since pterosaurs were discovered more than 100 years ago, the basic physics of how the largest of them flew are becoming understood. The new research suggests that estimates of giant pterosaur wing size and shape have been wrong, and that, mechanically, the wings would have had to be crescent-shaped and angled much farther forward on the body than has been thought. [25 Amazing Ancient Beasts]

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"Something as big a pterosaur is really pushing the limits of what's possible. That's what's interesting from an engineering point of view," study researcher Colin Palmer, of the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, said to LiveScience. Palmer figured out how these physical boundaries contribute to the size and shape of the pterosaur wings. "It does allow us to have a better idea of how things work and throw away a number of things," he said.

Pterosaurs (meaning "winged lizards") seem to be capable of powered flight even though some were the size of giraffes. They are thought to have ruled the skies for more than 200 million years, until they died out with the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Their wingspans reached 7 meters — about twice as long as any living bird — and some fossils suggest even larger species of pterosaurs may have lived.

By analyzing the pterosaur's center of mass (where gravity is pulling down the hardest) and the center of pressure (where lift is pushing up the hardest) in different conformations, Palmer added physics-based boundaries to the possible size and shape of the wings. He found that as depicted in most illustrations, pterosaurs wouldn't have been able to fly. To successfully fly, these two forces must be equal and opposite.

Jennifer Welsh is a Connecticut-based science writer and editor and a regular contributor to Live Science. She also has several years of bench work in cancer research and anti-viral drug discovery under her belt. She has previously written for Science News, VerywellHealth, The Scientist, Discover Magazine, WIRED Science, and Business Insider.