Pterosaurs were an ancient group of winged reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs. Many pterosaurs were very large, some as large as a giraffe and with a wingspan of over 12 meters. Paleontologists have long wondered whether large pterosaurs were capable of powered flight (flying by flapping their wings) or whether they were able only to glide. Several arguments have been made against powered flight.
Doubters point out that since modern reptiles are cold-blooded, ancient reptiles such as pterosaurs were probably cold-blooded as well. Cold-blooded animals typically have a slow metabolism and are unable to produce a lot of energy. Powered flight is an activity requiring a lot of energy, which is why all modern vertebrates that fly are warm-blooded, not cold-blooded. It seemed unlikely that pterosaurs would have been able to generate the energy needed to fly.
Second, there is a limit to the weight of animals that can be kept airborne by powered flight. Pterosaurs that were as large as a giraffe were probably so heavy that they would not have been able to flap their wings fast enough to stay aloft for any length of time.
Third, all animals with powered flight are able to take off from the ground. For example, birds take off by jumping from their legs or running to gain speed and then jumping. But these methods would not have worked for large pterosaurs. Large pterosaurs would have needed big, powerful muscles in their back legs to launch themselves into the air, and we know from fossilized bones that their back leg muscles were too small and weak to allow the pterosaurs to run fast enough or jump high enough to launch themselves into the air.
The reading and lecture are both about the Pterosaur's powered flight capacity. While the reading suggest that these creature are not capable of powered flight and put forward three reasons to support, the lecturer finds flaws in all three argument. She believes that this winged reptiles can actually fly by flapping their wings.
Firstly, the author points out that Pterosaus are probably cold-blooded and their metabolism does not provide enough energy for the process of powered flight. The lecturer challenges this point. She states that recent fossil studies revealed that Pterosaurs body were covered with thick hair or fur kind of things. Furthermore metabolism of this creature resembled much of warm blooded animals.
Secondly, The author contends that heavy weight of this creature restricted it from flying by flapping their wings. The lecturer rebuts this argument. She suggests that anatomical studies were able to conclude that bones of this reptile is hollow. She elaborated on this by mentioning that it is actually light weight regardless of its huge body frame which enabled the animal for powered flight.
Thirdly, the author states that large Pterosaur's back leg muscles were very weak which is very essential to allow it for this kind of flight. The lecturer,on the other hand, posits that like other reptiles Pteroaurs have four limbs which provide them enough strength to run and jump to have a powered flight.
| Post date | Users | Rates | Link to Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-12-06 | marii.r67 | 80 | view |
| 2019-11-13 | shirley5001 | 80 | view |
| 2019-11-13 | shirley5001 | 80 | view |
| 2019-11-03 | Seema Modak | 78 | view |
| 2019-11-03 | Seema Modak | 78 | view |
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Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 24, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
The reading and lecture are both about the Pterosaurs powered fl...
^^
Line 1, column 112, Rule ID: THIS_NNS[2]
Message: Did you mean 'this creature' or 'these creatures'?
Suggestion: this creature; these creatures
...apacity. While the reading suggest that these creature are not capable of powered flight and p...
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Line 3, column 59, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...r points out that Pterosaus are probably cold-blooded and their metabolism does n...
^^
Line 3, column 248, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...that recent fossil studies revealed that Pterosaurs body were covered with thick ...
^^
Line 3, column 318, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Furthermore,
... with thick hair or fur kind of things. Furthermore metabolism of this creature resembled m...
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Line 5, column 36, Rule ID: HEAVY_WEIGHT[1]
Message: Did you mean 'heavyweight'?
Suggestion: heavyweight
.... Secondly, The author contends that heavy weight of this creature restricted it from fly...
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Line 5, column 290, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...he elaborated on this by mentioning that it is actually light weight regardless o...
^^
Line 5, column 307, Rule ID: LIGHT_WEIGHT[1]
Message: Did you mean 'lightweight'?
Suggestion: lightweight
...this by mentioning that it is actually light weight regardless of its huge body frame which...
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Line 7, column 155, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma
Suggestion: , on
...it for this kind of flight. The lecturer,on the other hand, posits that like other ...
^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, but, first, firstly, furthermore, second, secondly, so, third, thirdly, while, kind of, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 9.0 10.4613686534 86% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 1.0 5.04856512141 20% => OK
Conjunction : 5.0 7.30242825607 68% => OK
Relative clauses : 14.0 12.0772626932 116% => OK
Pronoun: 32.0 22.412803532 143% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 25.0 30.3222958057 82% => OK
Nominalization: 2.0 5.01324503311 40% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1213.0 1373.03311258 88% => OK
No of words: 230.0 270.72406181 85% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.27391304348 5.08290768461 104% => OK
Fourth root words length: 3.89432290496 4.04702891845 96% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.37897612645 2.5805825403 92% => OK
Unique words: 132.0 145.348785872 91% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.573913043478 0.540411800872 106% => OK
syllable_count: 355.5 419.366225166 85% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 3.25607064018 123% => OK
Article: 8.0 8.23620309051 97% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 1.25165562914 80% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 2.5761589404 39% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 13.0 13.0662251656 99% => OK
Sentence length: 17.0 21.2450331126 80% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 44.7549541074 49.2860985944 91% => OK
Chars per sentence: 93.3076923077 110.228320801 85% => OK
Words per sentence: 17.6923076923 21.698381199 82% => OK
Discourse Markers: 8.84615384615 7.06452816374 125% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 9.0 4.19205298013 215% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 4.0 4.33554083885 92% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 5.0 4.45695364238 112% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.27373068433 94% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.132953624742 0.272083759551 49% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0491732465738 0.0996497079465 49% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0657347111974 0.0662205650399 99% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0869348915106 0.162205337803 54% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0493936151729 0.0443174109184 111% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.2 13.3589403974 91% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 62.68 53.8541721854 116% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 8.7 11.0289183223 79% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.99 12.2367328918 106% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.32 8.42419426049 99% => OK
difficult_words: 56.0 63.6247240618 88% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 7.5 10.7273730684 70% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.8 10.498013245 84% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.2008830022 80% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 Out of 30
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.