Tupuxuara

The September 2009 issue of National Geographic published a recent discovery of remains of dinosaurs excavated in Brazil.

The newly discovered dinosaur is now called a TUPUXUARA, a type of pterosaur, which lived on earth 112 million years ago.

These creatures were weirdly shaped weaklings, giraffe-tall hang gliders forced to hurl themselves off cliffs to get airborne. At least, that is the traditional view of the flying reptiles called pterosaurs, which went extinct along with dinosaurs some 65 million years ago. But a novel idea of pterosaur flight was caught the notice of paleotologists worldwide. Accord to Johns Hopkins doctoral student Michael Habib, these dragon-like creatures--the largest of which may have weighed well over 500 pounds--had the power to take off from flat ground. Habib, who used to study bird flight, says pterosaurs' wing bones were too massive for them to have simply been frail gliders. But beefy wings make sense if they flew by first tipping forward off comparatively spindly back legs, then using their frong limbs to explosively leapfrog into the air. If that theory takes wing, pterosaurs could gain a muscular new profile in Mesozoic history.

God's creatures, extinct and presently alive, are unique, marvelous, arresting, and challenging. This is true of all of God's creatures, including YOU and every animal and insect and plant and reptile and fish around YOUR world. Appreciate ALL these creatures, and more than this, appreciate GOD, the CREATOR of everything.
"The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it;
for he has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the rivers." (Psalm 24:1-2).

Tell YOUR friends about the wonders around YOU. Let me hear from YOU. Do YOU like dinosaurs?

John Willis