Overview

• A study in Current Biology reexamined two nearly complete Pterodactylus hatchlings from Germany’s Solnhofen Limestone using UV fluorescence.
• Both specimens show clean, oblique humerus fractures with displacement and no healing, consistent with powerful twisting forces during flight.
• Researchers infer violent storm gusts snapped the wings, after which the hatchlings drowned and were rapidly buried in fine lime-rich mud.
• The findings explain why Solnhofen preserves many pristine juveniles but few intact adults, revealing a strong storm-driven taphonomic bias.
• Led by the University of Leicester’s Rab Smyth and Dave Unwin, the work documents hatchlings with ~20 cm wingspans held in two German museums.