# Flying creatures with 60 foot wingspans!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-creatures-with-60-foot-wingspans/322312>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 19, 2005, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-creatures-with-60-foot-wingspans/322312 "2005-09-19T03:10:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2005, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-creatures-with-60-foot-wingspans/322312/1 "2005-09-19T03:10:13Z")

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[Flying reptiles just got bigger](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4223658.stm)

[Check out the picture](http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/sci_nat_enl_1126204004/img/1.jpg)!

> [@](#):
>
> New discoveries in the Americas suggest some had wingspans of 18m (60ft).
> 
> But there was nothing ugly about the way they moved through the air, according to expert Dr David Martill, of the University of Portsmouth.
> 
> Their ability to utilise air currents, thermals and ground effects would astonish aeroplane designers, he said.
> 
> “Pterosaurs were beautifully engineered,” he told BBC News.
> 
> "Their skeletons were exceedingly light: their bones were very thin and hollow, and those hollows were filled with an air-sack system. They’d also got rid of their reptilian scales and their wing membrane was very, very thin.