'Sexy' pterosaur tail should have been nightmare for flying. How did it work?

Early pterosaurs had long tails with thin, leaf-shaped flaps of tissue on the end called vanes.

This vane would have compromised their flight if it were floppy and fluttered like a flag.

Researchers used high-powered lasers to study skin and other soft tissues preserved in pterosaur tail fossils.

They found that the vane had criss-crossing fibres that would have supported a tensioning system.