Allometric reconstruction of the flight capacity of pelagornis chilensis mayr & rubilar-rogers, 2010 (Aves: Pelagornithidae)

Meza-Vélez I. · Spanish Journal of Palaeontology (2020) · DOI: 10.7203/sjp.35.2.18485

Resumen

Extinct birds of the family Pelagornithidae were large gliding seabirds that inhabited the planet from the late Paleocene to the Pliocene. This investigation studies the flight capacity of a species of pelagornithids, Pelagornis chilensis. Using the sustenance formula and allometric formulas it was shown that different speeds of the fossil bird are significantly greater than Thalassarche chrysostoma, the gray-headed albatross, which is the more morphologically close extant bird to P. chilensis. In addition, consistent with the previous results, it was determined that the parasitic power, the induced power, the muscular strength and the Reynolds number of P. chilensis are significantly greater than the same variables of T. chrysostoma. The method was used in the albatross Diomedea exulans, to check the proximity of the observed values with the calculated ones and estimate the error, obtaining a difference between these results of 2.7%. Finally, the conditions and form of flight and their possible application to the flight are studied; it is hypothesized that due to the large size of both birds and morphology, these flight patterns would have been similar. © Sociedad Española de Paleontología.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos