Meet the small Jurassic reptile that ‘could lift off from water like a duck’

Scientists have long wondered whether a small pterosaur could spend much time around water, given their anatomy

A Hong Kong-led study answers the question with fossil analysis and aerodynamic modelling

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Pterosaur reptiles were the first vertebrates to take to the air. Image: Julius Csotonyi

Published: 9:30pm, 26 Apr 2022

A flying reptile that lived 150 million years ago could use its wings and webbed feet to lift off from water like a duck, answering a question that has long puzzled scientists, according to a new study.

In the study led by a researcher from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the scientists said they analysed the structure of a small pterosaur fossil and used modelling to work out whether the animal could launch from the surface.

Michael Pittman, lead author and an assistant professor who specialises in the flight evolution of vertebrates at CUHK’s school of life sciences, said the team concluded that the pterosaurs could “push up with most of their fingers and kick with their feet, which acts like a paddle because they are webbed”.

“Today mallard ducks, the ones with green heads, do this too.”

The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports last week.

The specimen was preserved in marine sediment and housed at the Natural History Museum in Berlin. Photo: Handout

Scientists have wondered for decades how small pterosaurs, which dived for food, took off from water.

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