Winged dinosaurs 'capable of flight'

But, scientists now say that the winged dinosaurs, like the the huge pterosaurs, were very much capable of flight -- they used the combined power of their legs and winged arms as "engines" to push itself off the ground.

Once airborne, the 16ft beast -- with a 32ft wingspan -- could even cross continents, say the scientists.

For their research, Dr Mark Witton of Portsmouth University and US colleague Dr Michael Habib used fossils to estimate size and weight, and calculate bone strength and mechanics, 'The Sun' reported.

Dr Habib said: "By using their arms, they use the flight muscles -- the strongest in their bodies -- to take off and that gives them potential to launch much greater weight into the air."

The latest findings, published in the 'PLoS One' journal, contradict an earlier research by Tokyo University which claimed that the winged dinosaurs would have struggled to get off the ground because of their weight.

After analysing the flight of 28 birds, the Japanese team said that the pterodactyl, which weighed a quarter of a ton, would not have been able to flap its wings fast enough to stay in the air -- and could only glide relatively short distances from clifftops.