"It did not simply jump in the air from a tree on a wing and a prayer and hope to land on something soft," Fraser explained. "This reptile could maneuver and change direction while gliding."
While its feet and muscles aided such air adventures, the reptile's long neck is the real scientific head scratcher, since a tiny skull attached to the end of a long neck is subject to substantial friction in mid-glide.
Hans Sues, associate director for research and collections at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, was surprised when he first learned about the reptile's long neck. Most protorosaurs did not fly or glide, and most gliding reptiles didn't have long necks.
But, he added, "that doesn't imply it wasn't a good glider. Even some snakes today can glide their long bodies over long distances."
These flying snakes, all from the genus Chrysopelea, literally fling themselves from tree to tree while undulating their bodies to allow for somewhat smooth gliding.
A closer living match to the newly identified gliding reptile, at least in terms of lifestyle, is Indonesia's flying dragon lizard, which folds out wing-like layers of skin attached to its movable ribs before gliding between trees up to 25 feet apart.
