About 150 million years ago, a tropical storm swept across a chain of islands on the edge of the Tethys Ocean, the prehistoric precursor to the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, and a tiny Pterodactylus hatchling was caught in its fury.
Although capable of flight at a very young age, the hatchling’s delicate wing bones could not withstand the storm. The humerus—the upper arm bone supporting its membranous wing—snapped, and the helpless creature was swept into a lagoon, where it drowned and was buried in churning mud, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Scientists discovered identical wind-caused fractures in two well-preserved Pterodactylus hatchlings from southern Germany, stored in separate museum collections. Lead author Rab Smyth, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History, said the injuries were noticed by chance during fossil examinations. The researchers nicknamed the hatchlings Lucky and Lucky II.
“These fossils are a stroke of bad luck for the animals but a stroke of good luck for science,” Smyth said. “They provide unique insights into the anatomy of young pterosaurs and the dangers they faced during the Jurassic Period.”
Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to achieve powered flight, preceding birds and bats. The two hatchlings in the study were only days to weeks old, with wingspans under eight inches (20 cm)—small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. Their bones were still delicate and not fully formed, evidence of their extreme youth.
The diagonal fractures along the upper arm bones suggest the injuries were caused by the force of strong winds or waves rather than a crash or predator attack. The storm likely carried the hatchlings several miles from their original habitat before they drowned in the lagoon. Rapid burial in oxygen-poor sediments preserved their fragile bodies, giving paleontologists a remarkable snapshot of their final moments.
Smyth added: “Before the storm, these hatchlings could have been practicing flight, hunting for insects, or resting on the islands. We can now glimpse the perils of life for juvenile pterosaurs in the Jurassic skies.”
