Pterosaurs infographic (IMAGE)
Caption
: Yang et al. (2023) show different growth patterns in large and small pterosaurs. The wings of small-bodied pterosaurs show bones that grew slowly with respect to the rest of the body, indicating that they were already good fliers soon after hatching. Large-bodied pterosaur species, however, were born with small arms. Even though their wing bones grew quickly after hatching relative to the rest of the body, the young of these species could not fly efficiently and therefore high-input parental care was critical to survival.
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