TPO 42 Integrated Writing Task

Both the reading and the lecture discuss how a kind of winged reptiles that lived at the same time as dinosaurs named Pterosaurs flew. The passage suggests some arguments that those animals were not capable of powered flight and glided on the air. On the other hand, the professor claims that some research indicates that they could have the ability of powered flight and opposes each argument.
First, the passage states that Pterosaurs were reptiles, and like modern reptiles, they were cold-blooded animals. Therefore, they could not produce the energy for flapping their wings and fly. Nevertheless, the lecturer rejects this idea and argues that Pterosaurs had dense hair-like covering like warm-blooded animals based on the discovered fossils. They could maintain high body temperature when the surrounding was cold. As a result, their metabolism was faster than the reading states, and they had the energy for powered flight.
Second, the reading mentions that those animals were as big as giraffes, so they were too heavy to fly by flapping their wings. Nonetheless, the speaker denies the author's view and illustrates that based on the anatomical features of Pterosaurs, they were unusually lightweight for that size. She explains that its bones were hollow, so the animal's weight was low enough to be airborne by flapping its wings.
Finally, The author claims that birds use their feet to jump or run fast enough to take off and fly, but Pterosaur did not have such powerful back legs. However, the speaker refutes it, saying that Pterosaurs were different from birds. She says that these animals used four limbs for running or jumping off the ground, so they had no trouble taking off into the air.