Why can the 'giraffe dinosaur' fly?

Scientists have identified the reason why a large dinosaur-sized giraffe is capable of flying across the ocean.

After years of research, British and American experts have deciphered the secret behind the ability to fly like birds of lizards, large-sized giraffes. This is the work of Dr. Mark Witton, paleontologist of the University of Portsmouth (UK), and Dr. Michael Habib from Chatham University (USA).

They found that the reptile could lift itself into the air thanks to the strong thrust of the arms and legs muscles, just like the way the athletes jumped and flung themselves up. Once in the air, they can fly over long distances, even flying across continents, according to experts.

The Telegraph newspaper quoted Dr. Witton as saying: " Most birds take off by running and jumping into the air before flapping their wings frantically, or if the size is small enough, they can also take off. gently off the ground while standing '.

According to him, previous theories suggest that flying lizards are too large and heavy to be able to perform one of the two ways of flying, resulting in them being unable to fly. However, the reality is different. ' These creatures are not birds, they are flying reptiles with extremely special skeleton structures, as well as symmetrical structures of different wings and muscle masses ,' explains Dr. Witton. Also, the lizard takes off in a completely different way than the birds, and has a lower takeoff angle and lower initial flight.

Dr. Witton and his co-worker Habid proposed a new hypothesis, whereby organisms with up to 50 kg of front limbs could lift themselves into the air gently despite the huge weight and size of the body. Previous theories suggest that this dinosaur lizard is 6 meters tall with a wingspan of up to 12 meters, but expert Witton and Habid argue that a 5m height with 10m wingspan seems more reasonable.

Dr. Witton said: '' The size of the wing muscle of the giant lizard species surpassed our imagination: the wing wing muscle could also reach 50kg, accounting for 20% of the body's total mass, terrible power and lift '.

Dr. Habib linked his colleague: ' Instead of just taking off wings, like birds, flying lizards seem to use all four of their limbs to lift their bodies off the ground ,' Habib said.

According to the expert, by using two arms (wings) as the main " engine " to take off instead of using thrust from the legs, they use flying muscles, the strongest part of the body to do It seems impossible. This reason can also explain why flying lizards are many times larger than any other species that can fly.

The researchers examined the structure of the ancient flying reptile body, which became extinct 65 million years ago with other dinosaurs, in an attempt to solve the long-standing mystery. By using the remains of their fossil remains, the experts calculated the size and weight, as well as the strength of the bones and the flight mechanism of the giant reptile.

Research results show that this lizard species not only can fly but also fly very well, can pass extremely far distances. To do this, flying lizards do not need to flap their wings continuously during the trip, but simply thrust their wings vigorously for a short time to maintain their cruising velocity.