this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
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[โ€“] unnecessarygoat@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

what about animals like archaeopteryx, that could fly, or spinosaurus that had adaptations for swimming?

[โ€“] Shrike502@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Rule of thumb, it's not perfect. Plus AFAIK archaeopteryx was more of a glider, rather than a dedicated flyer (the way pterodactyl was). You can also tell bird-like theropods from pterosaurs by the legs - birds have long-ish legs, while pterosaurs have short-ish legs (like bats).

As for the spinosaurs, while a swimmer (it's hard to keep track, poor sod is getting retconned every other day) it was not an open sea kind of swimmer - just compare spinosaur's limbs to that of a mosasaur