Ever since pterosaur fossils have been found greater than two centuries in the past, paleontologists have puzzled how these gawky-looking reptiles launched themselves into the air. Specialists have just lately centered on a “quad launch” speculation, which envisions pterosaurs rocking forwards and backwards on their arms to leap into the air utilizing a pole vault–like movement, whether or not from land or water. Direct bodily proof of this method has been elusive, however now a small pterosaur from the Jurassic rocks of Germany helps resolve the thriller.

The sparrow-sized fossil, described by Pure Historical past Museum of Los Angeles paleontologist Michael Habib and his colleagues in Scientific Studies, options unusually well-preserved bones and pores and skin impressions of a pterosaur sort known as an aurorazhdarchid. The paleontologists used a course of referred to as laser-stimulated fluorescence to detect the fossilized tissues, together with a wing membrane and webbed toes. Analyzing these buildings let the researchers decide how the pterosaur may have used them to take off.

Prior analysis signifies pterosaurs weren’t robust swimmers, Habib notes—so this fossil’s mushy tissues “are greatest interpreted as water-launch variations” moderately than swimwear. These buildings supply the primary bodily proof that pterosaurs may take off utilizing quad launch, he says; till now the very best proof got here from biomechanical fashions of skeletons. The pores and skin impressions alongside the arms recommend that, when folded, the pterosaur’s wings may assist the reptile push off from the water’s floor. The researchers discovered that the wings and webbed toes mixed would have been sufficient to propel the animal from a resting place.

Most fashionable birds use their muscular legs to spring into the air. However pterosaurs had totally different proportions and would have behaved in a different way, says College of Edinburgh pterosaur researcher Natalia Jagielska, who was not concerned within the new examine. Realizing that mushy tissues just like the pterosaur’s could be preserved within the fossil file, Jagielska provides, “is a superb cause for scanning different exquisitely preserved fossils with lasers and seeing if they will inform us a special story.”