How a Storm Cracked 150-Million-Year-Old Pterosaur Bones
433A storm from long ago helped scientists uncover a mystery about tiny flying reptiles from the Jurassic period. Around 150 million years ago, the area now known as the Solnhofen Limestones in Germany was a group of small islands with warm lagoons. These lagoons were filled with coral reefs, jellyfish, and other sea creatures. Birds and pterosaurs soared above the water, but storms often turned the area into a dangerous place for these creatures.
Recently, a researcher named Rab Smyth from the University of Leicester made a breakthrough. He found two young pterosaurs, named Lucky I and Lucky II, buried in the limestone. Their bones told a story about how they died in a storm. Both had clean, slanted fractures in their wings, specifically in the humerus bone that connects the wing to the body. These fractures showed they had been twisted during a storm, which caused them to lose their ability to fly and drown in the lagoon. They were quickly covered by mud and preserved deep in the lagoon floor.
What Makes This Discovery Special
The site where Smyth found these fossils is called a Lagerstätte. It’s a place known for perfectly preserving delicate creatures that usually don’t survive millions of years. When animals sank into the lagoon, soft sediments buried them quickly, turning into limestone and keeping their bones intact. Many juvenile pterosaurs found at the site had also been buried rapidly after storms, explaining why their fragile bones were preserved. Interestingly, larger adult pterosaurs often didn’t make it into the fossil record because they either floated away or weren’t buried as quickly. Their bodies, being heavier and sturdier, were more likely to decompose or be scavenged before they could be buried.
How the Storm Caused Their Death
The fractures in Lucky I and Lucky II’s wings are especially important. These injuries are common in flying animals today, like birds and bats. The fractures showed signs they happened while the animals were still alive, likely during flight in a storm. The bones were displaced and had smooth edges, which indicates they broke in life rather than after death. The absence of healing suggests the pterosaurs died shortly after getting injured.
Storms at Solnhofen didn’t just kill pterosaurs. Many other animals, including early birds like Archaeopteryx and marine creatures, also suffered. The storms churned up the lagoons, bringing deep, salty, low-oxygen water to the surface. This harsh environment helped preserve the fossils because scavengers couldn’t feed on the bodies, and rapid burial by mud protected the remains from decay.
Smyth explains that these storms were likely the main cause of the injuries and deaths of these young pterosaurs. The storms transported them into the lagoon and caused their wing injuries, which led to their drowning. Although Lucky I and Lucky II were unlucky, their well-preserved skeletons finally tell us how they died after over a hundred thousand years of mystery.
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