One of the most exciting moments in the new sequel to Jurassic Park, Jurassic world, is Quetzalcoatlus swooping down from the air to attack the heroes' planes Quetzalcoatlus, with huge wings and a length of 10 meters (33 feet) from head to tail, is the largest pterosaur ever.
However, an aerodynamic analysis led by researchers at Nagoya University in Japan shows that the Jurassic world is wrong. In fact, these huge creatures could not have flown more than a short distance. In order to make this amazing discovery, a research team composed of takesuke goto and Kenichi Noda of the Graduate School of environmental studies of Nagoya University, in cooperation with the University of Tokyo and cebc of France, calculated and compared the ability of extinct giant flying creatures and modern birds to fly with wind and air flow in an energy-saving way.
Using a model, the team calculated the thermal and dynamic flight performance of four extinct flying giants and compared them with the performance of today's birds. They found that, for example, the famous pterosaur in Jurassic Park III may be good at soaring by using the updraft of the sea, and its flight mode is similar to that of modern guard birds.
However, when they investigated Quetzalcoatlus, the largest flying animal in history, they found that it was not suitable for soaring even if the atmospheric density parameters were changed. Quetzalcoatlus' poor thermal and slope flight performance is related to their large wing load associated with their large size, the researchers said. This shows that the wind conditions for Quetzalcoatlus to carry out sustainable thermal flight are limited. Although Quetzalcoatlus was previously thought to be a skilled thermal hoverer capable of flying 10000 miles without touching the ground, this study shows that its thermal hovering ability is lower than that of modern birds.
Although the findings are too late for Jurassic world, the results of the study are likely to change the way the sequel depicts extinct giant birds and pterosaurs.