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 the lecture are both about finding the possibility of pterosaurs's ability of powered flight. The author of the reading feels that the pterosaurs did not have the ability of powered flight. The lecturer challenges the claims made by the author. He is of the opinion that despite the reasons presented by the author, pterosaurs had the ability to powered flight.
To begin with, the author argues that the pterosaurs were most probably cold-blooded animals as the modern reptiles are cold-blooded. The article mentions that cold-blooded animals have a slow metabolism rate and are unable to produce enough energy for powered flight. The specific argument is challenged by the lecturer. He claims that the pterosaurs had a dense hair like fur which kept their blood warm. Additionally, he says, the warm blooded pterosaurs had fast metabolism and were able to easily generate enough energy for powered flight.
Secondly, the author posits that the pterosaurs had excessive weight of similar to a giraffe. In the article, it is said that their weight wouldn't allow them to flap their wings fast enough for staying aloft. The lecturer, however, rebuts this by mentioning that the pterosaurs had anatomical features which includes hollow bones. He elaborates on this by bringing up the point that hollow bones made the pterosaurs body much light weight which enabled them to take flight by flapping their wings.
Finally, the writer suggests that the pterosaurs would need powerful back legs to jump off the ground to take initial flight. Moreover, it is stated in the article that the pterosaurs had small and weak muscles in their back legs. In contrasts, the lecturer's position is that their is clear distinction between birds and pterosaurs flight techniques. Birds uses two back legs to jump into flight. He notes that pterosaurs had four strong legs and used all four legs to walk. As the modern four legged animals that fly uses all four of the legs to jump from the ground, the pterosaurs would've easily taken flight by using their four legs.
| 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 |
- 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 cap 60
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Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 206, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...not have the ability of powered flight. The lecturer challenges the claims made by ...
^^^
Line 9, column 140, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: wouldn't
...e article, it is said that their weight wouldnt allow them to flap their wings fast eno...
^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 427, Rule ID: LIGHT_WEIGHT[1]
Message: Did you mean 'lightweight'?
Suggestion: lightweight
...low bones made the pterosaurs body much light weight which enabled them to take flight by fl...
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 13, column 277, Rule ID: THEIR_IS[1]
Message: Did you mean 'there'?
Suggestion: there
...ntrasts, the lecturers position is that their is clear distinction between birds and ...
^^^^^
Line 13, column 585, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: would've
...to jump from the ground, the pterosaurs wouldve easily taken flight by using their four...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, finally, however, if, moreover, second, secondly, so, in contrast, to begin with
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 11.0 10.4613686534 105% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 2.0 5.04856512141 40% => OK
Conjunction : 6.0 7.30242825607 82% => OK
Relative clauses : 17.0 12.0772626932 141% => OK
Pronoun: 32.0 22.412803532 143% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 40.0 30.3222958057 132% => OK
Nominalization: 3.0 5.01324503311 60% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1734.0 1373.03311258 126% => OK
No of words: 342.0 270.72406181 126% => OK
Chars per words: 5.0701754386 5.08290768461 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.30037696126 4.04702891845 106% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.51422545526 2.5805825403 97% => OK
Unique words: 163.0 145.348785872 112% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.476608187135 0.540411800872 88% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 508.5 419.366225166 121% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 7.0 3.25607064018 215% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 12.0 8.23620309051 146% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 1.25165562914 80% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 2.5761589404 116% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 19.0 13.0662251656 145% => OK
Sentence length: 18.0 21.2450331126 85% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 33.2930412068 49.2860985944 68% => OK
Chars per sentence: 91.2631578947 110.228320801 83% => OK
Words per sentence: 18.0 21.698381199 83% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.47368421053 7.06452816374 63% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 5.0 4.19205298013 119% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 10.0 4.33554083885 231% => Less positive sentences wanted.
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: 0.157709031575 0.272083759551 58% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0574262413293 0.0996497079465 58% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0449549363963 0.0662205650399 68% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0979279117777 0.162205337803 60% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0305641841382 0.0443174109184 69% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 11.4 13.3589403974 85% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 61.67 53.8541721854 115% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.1 11.0289183223 83% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.83 12.2367328918 97% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.85 8.42419426049 93% => OK
difficult_words: 72.0 63.6247240618 113% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.0 10.7273730684 75% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.2 10.498013245 88% => OK
text_standard: 8.0 11.2008830022 71% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Write the essay in 20 minutes.
Rates: 60.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 18.0 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.