Kunpengopterus - The Thumbed Pterosaurs

Having opposable thumbs is one of the key traits of being human and being an evolutionary adaptation originally being used for arboreal locomotion, which is now key to our societies and how we function, allowing us to better manipulate tools and objects to achieve things that would otherwise be impossible without them. Thumbs aren’t just found in humans though, as many other mammals, reptiles and even amphibians also possess them, although to a lesser extent in the latter two groups, showing how key the adaptation is to a shared niche and that it has evolved multiple times in unrelated animal groups.

A new discovery from China further emphasises the range of organisms that this trait can be exhibited in, and in a group that over the years has proven that they are even more diverse and marvellous than they already were previously, this group being the Pterosaurs. With a range of differing body plans, diets and sizes, they have captured the imagination of people interested in the sciences for many years, and while once considered to be evolutionary stepping stones for birds to take over, are now being recognised as the successful, perfectly adapted and varied animals that they are now known to be, and the discovery that will be discussed in this video is further proof of that. I hope you enjoy.

Background music:
After All - Geographer
Uum 7ths
Home - Resonance
Bright Idea - Geographer
Thin Places - Jesse Gallagher

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Sources:

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[purplehaze]

A friendly reminder that thumbs are far more common that one might think. Even pandas, of all things, have a sort of pseudo-thumbs.

[primrosevale]

Can't wait for the speculative evolution that comes from this discovery. Forget the dinosauroid, we got the pterosauroid!

[Darthbelal]

I think to truly study animals like Pterosaurs, one has to toss the mindset that they were "inferior" to birds. We don't know exactly why they became extinct, but they were supremely adapted for flying, burst on the seen in the mid Triassic and didn't disappear until the K-Pg event. They were an extremely successful group of animals and their disappearance has more to do the odds getting stacked against than modern birds being "better.'

[tinamoir]

Loving all the paleo and Aotearoa manu. Thanks for combining two of my favourite things into one channel!

[Chikanuk]

Just imagine them lost their flying ability and evolve if fully monkey-like form. It will be super interesting and bizzare animals. Well, they already are, but you catch my idea.

[praise_kek]

could you explain how china and mongolia were able to preserve many fossils of the time period when archosaurs were dominant

[johnelliott]

Good video. Have always been fascinated by the pterosaurs.

[dynamosaurusimperious]

*The Monkey Pterosaur* is one pretty awesome flying reptile, and I wish you a good day

[generaldissatisfaction]

Can you please do a video on the Desmostylians?

Great channel btw!

[minted]

Enjoyed this. Fascinating as always:)

[scarhole]

Wow, your videos are so good.
I have to research a dozen things now....

[visi]

Nice One ~ Informative plus captivating! Cheers

[donovaneyre]

Oh hell yea I thought I recognized that bg music, love Home. Great vid!

[foxhound]

Freaking cicadas, they're everywhere. Even in the thumbnail!

[PaulG.x]

Modern Pteropods are very adept in the trees with only a thumb to climb with.

[AryadiSubagio]

New viewer here. Can you add English subtitle by yourself? Because somehow the automated English CC doesn't show and I have some difficulty hearing you in some parts

[DAVIDPETERSC]

This is a misinterpretation. The authors thought digits 2 and 3 flexed anteriorly (in flight), digit 1 posteriorly. All pterosaurs, like all tetrapods, flexed their free fingers ventrally, toward the palm. Crushed pterosaur fossils typically rotate their free fingers 90º due to crushing because their deep unguals fall one way or the other to the plane of the sediment. Only the wing finger is axially rotated so the wing can fold in the plane of the wing.

[TheRopenNetwork]

There is no proof that Pterosaurs evolved. Adaptation, Yes!