New discovery offers scientists a rare glimpse into how pterosaurs lived and died

A violent storm swept across southern Germany some 150 million years ago, lifting two immature pterosaurs high above the ground like leaves. The fragile reptiles, just born or newly weaned, swirled into a lagoon and perished. Their bodies sank quickly, covered with fine sediment agitated up by the storm itself. Against all odds, their bones fossilized virtually complete.

Now, those old bones—nicknamed Lucky and Lucky II—give scientists a look at the lives of young pterosaurs and their demise. They also reveal why the fossil record in this area is full of juvenile specimens but older adults are few.

On first glance, the bones of Lucky look complete. However, scientists discovered a tilted break in the left arm. Lucky II also had the same kind of injury on the right arm. Paleontologists believe strong gusts folded their wings until they broke, and the juveniles crashed into the waves.

Rab Smyth, author of the paper and paleontology researcher at the American Museum of Natural History, said that it is incredible to have such detail. "The likelihood of preserving a pterosaur whole is already uncommon," Smyth said. "Finding a fossil that tells you what killed the animal is rarer."

When it was the Jurassic Period, Europe was not a single landmass but an archipelago of islands ringed by shallow, tropical oceans. Southern Germany formed part of the final remnants of land before the Tethys Ocean. Solnhofen lagoons here became famous for their capacity to preserve delicate fossils, like the very first bird, Archaeopteryx.

Since over two centuries ago, researchers have discovered hundreds of tiny pterosaur fossils in the Solnhofen Limestone. Several belong to Pterodactylus antiquus, the same group as Lucky and Lucky II. However, larger adult individuals are curiously absent, and only a few skull and limb fragments were found. Larger bodies should fossilize more readily than smaller ones under normal circumstances.

The new research indicates storms might have skewed the record. Juveniles caught by violent gusts were blown onto lagoons, quickly buried, and fossilized in superb detail. Adults floated at the surface and decayed before their skeletons could settle on the seafloor.

Smyth and others used ultraviolet light photography to examine the fossils, and this enhanced hidden soft tissue and subtle detail in the bone walls. When a fossil glowed under UV light, research co-author David Unwin of the University of Leicester recalled that "it literally leapt out of the rock at us — and our hearts stopped."

The idea that these infant pterosaurs were already capable of flight goes against common arguments. Most modern birds and bats cannot fly so early in the process of hatching. But these fossils suggest baby pterosaurs may have been flying close to birth. Their breaks are comparable to flight wounds that younger birds acquire as they are caught up by storms.

That reading is not held by all. David Martill, emeritus professor at Portsmouth University, was pleased with the research but maintained that the injuries could also have been caused by running into rocks. Since cliffs were absent in the lagoons, he remains doubtful. Nonetheless, independent specialists praised the research. Steve Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh, called it "paleontological detective work of the highest order" and noted "each fossil is a tragedy" but an especially intriguing one.

The burials of Lucky and Lucky II shed light on how storms shaped the fossil record. Serene lagoons became deadly when storms mixed toxic, oxygen-poor bottom waters with surface waters, killing marine animals in mass graves. The same events swept hatchlings off surrounding islands into the sea, where they were entombed before scavengers could consume them.

Whereas ancient pterosaurs' fate was determined by storms, storms of another variety rage within every living cell of today. Deep beneath the surface lies a tiny factory that serves as a power plant—the mitochondrion. Organelles of this type convert food into adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, the chemical energy that drives everything from the contracting of muscles to memory.

Scientists have long understood mitochondria as the "powerhouses of the cell." But now they are revealed to be much more dynamic. Employing high-tech imaging techniques like cryo-electron microscopy, researchers found proteins within mitochondria change location to assemble in bigger or smaller clusters. This adaptability enables the organelles to switch between modes: maximizing energy output when it's in great demand, or minimizing damage from toxic byproducts when stress is extreme.

Instead of rigid engines, mitochondria are like symphony orchestras. Their protein complexes cluster and disperse, modulating energy production in real-time. When oxygen is low or energy is suddenly needed, mitochondria restructure to keep cells alive.

This plasticity matters long after textbook biology. Faulty mitochondria are involved in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, and heart disease. In these diseases, cells may lose the ability to redesign their protein structures, leading to energy shortages and cell damage. Old age might be a slow destruction of such mitochondrial flexibility.

The study further revealed that mitochondria talk to the rest of the cell about their health, similar to a power grid reporting to a city. When all is humming, cells can grow and develop. In stress, the mitochondria warn the cell to conserve its resources. It may one day enable doctors to design treatments that reboot the conversation and stabilize the situation.

Such drugs might, in the future, protect tissues during a heart attack or slow degeneration of neurons in dementia. More exciting is the promise of preclinical diagnosis. Determining mitochondrial adaptability could offer clues to disease years before symptoms appear.

Combined, these two lines of inquiry—ancient fossils and contemporary cell biology—create a picture of the fragility and resilience of life. A storm cut short the flight of Lucky and Lucky II, but left them intact for scientists to examine millions of years later. In our own cells, small structures encounter storms of stress each day, reorganizing to keep us alive.

Science tends to uncover beauty in the most unexpected of areas. The stretchy beauty of mitochondria and the delicate skeleton of young pterosaurs are reminding us that life is not only thin-skinned but also clever. From the Jurassic islands battered by the elements to the machinery of our own cells out of sight, survival relies on adaptability.

These studies have broad implications to the future. Fossil discoveries like Lucky and Lucky II help scientists date artefacts in the fossil record and reveal that many pterosaurs were swept up by storms and fossilized at Solnhofen as inexperienced juveniles. This changes how you think about prehistoric ecosystems.

To the biomedical community, discoveries concerning mitochondrial flexibility can guide treatments for diseases where energy failure plays a role. If researchers are successful in regaining or duplicating this flexibility, therapies can be employed to prevent cell damage in Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, or heart disease.

Diagnostic techniques may also emerge early on, providing doctors with a chance to treat before non-reversible deterioration sets in.

Both areas illustrate the ways in which awareness of the past and the microscopic present can enhance human health and knowledge.

Research findings are available online in the journal Current Biology.

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