Long Tails of Rhamphorhynchoid Pterosaurs

"Pterodactyl" seen by the artist at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 1971

How common is a long tail on a modern pterosaur! Of the 128 more-credible sighting reports compiled at the end of 2012, 41% reported a long tail. That's a lot, considering some eyewitnesses concentrate on the head or wings and don't remember for sure if there was a long tail. Also significant is how few report the absence of a long tail: only 2%. That makes a 20-to-1 ratio in favor of long tails.

The Rhamphorhynchoidea is one of two suborders of pterosaurs, known by paleontologists from fossils. The other is the Pterodactyloidea, which generally had shorter tails and a different head orientation. But in reality both types are known not just from fossils but from human eyewitnesses.

Sketch by another eyewitness: Irving, Texas

Sighting in Irving, Texas

A boy encountered a long-tailed pterosaur many years ago:

This was in the 1970's . . . during good warm weather. . . . It was before middle of day. I was outside playing. I heard loud screeching sounds. I looked up and seen something flying up very high. . . . It was flying in circles. Just like a hawk or buzzard would do when they catch those
high winds migrating. . . .  It was like a large winged bird, long beak and long tail. It would turn its head some when flying.

Some months passed. I was outside around side of the house playing. This was in the evening getting dark. I seen the strangest thing flying. I thought it was a bat. But it was much bigger. It was flying fast and crazy like all over the place. I just froze to watch it fly. It was really close to me. It was hard to get a good look at when flying.

. . . this thing landed in this tree resting on a branch. It was up on other side of tree limbs. I was trying to get a look at it but not spook it. It had its back to me. I was watching it trying to figure out what it was. It stretched out its wings. That when I got a look at it. It had claw hands on top of wings. It was very scary looking. . . . It did not have any feathers.

Many eyewitness, in many areas of the world, have also reported long-tailed pterosaurs.

Tail Vane Orientation

A few eyewitnesses, although very few, report how the tail flange is oriented. They consistently report it is parallel to the ground, at least during take-off. Those sightings were in Cuba, Georgia, and California, although the Georgia sighting did not involve observations of a take-off.

###

Pterosaur Tail Vane or Flange

◾diamond (many sightings, including Michigan, 2007)
◾lemon shape (Indiana, about 2006)
◾sail (Texas, about 1982)
◾spade (Kentucky, 2008 and North Carolina in 2013)
◾spike (New Mexico, 1993)
◾triangle-shaped (California, 2007 and 2012)

Pterosaur Tail Vane Orientation

How is the Rhamphorhynchoid tail vane oriented, horizontally or vertically? According to at least a couple of key eyewitnesses, it is horizontal. Patty Carson was sure of this in the “dinosaur” or “pterodactyl” she had observed in Cuba in 1965 . . .

Tale of the Pterosaur Tail

Contrary to what some paleontologists believe, the orientation of the tail vane, in the “basal” pterosaurs, now appears to be horizontal. Two eyewitnesses, both living in California, have made this clear: Patty Carson, of Riverside; and an anonymous eyewitness living in Lakewood. Each had her own clear daylight sighting of a living pterosaur at close range.

.

Pterosaurs or Ropens in Griffith Park

Two drivers in Los Angeles have reported one or more apparent pterosaurs, both sightings on the eastern side of Griffith Park, south of the zoo. Both eyewitnesses reported their sightings to me by email and I checked out their credibility. To the best of my knowledge, these two ladies have high honesty-credibility; I found nothing in my brief investigation that would suggest otherwise.

The first sighting was of three "dragons" that were gliding south over the I-5 freeway, a little southeast of the Los Angeles Zoo, close to the Colorado Street bridge, at about 6:10 a.m., on March 3, 2013, parallel to the Los Angeles River. (The eyewitness wants to be anonymous in publications, although I know her name.) She saw that the flying creatures had tails with "triangular points" and that they were "long and thin with a bigger point at the tip."

The lady was sure that the creatures were not birds. She could not examine them long enough to be sure that they had no sign or appearance of feathers, however. I sent her a page of silhouettes of birds, bats, and pterosaurs. She chose #13, which is the Sordes Pilosus, a "basal" pterosaur.

Survey form of 35 images of bats, birds, and pterosaurs

.

Image #13, Sordes Pilosus (a long-tailed Rhamphorhynchoid type)

The anonymous eyewitness of the "three dragons" told me, "I would say #13 except their heads were bigger." This is the same image chosen by two eyewitnesses on Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea, many years ago.

Second Eyewitness Near Griffith Park

Ten weeks after the March 3rd sighting, on May 13th, Devin Rhodriquez was driving in a northbound lane of the same freeway, except about 1.5 miles to the south. She saw a "pterosaur" that had a head crest and an appearance very unlike any bird. As in the earlier sighting, it was gliding over the I-5 Freeway near the eastern side of Griffith Park and near the Los Angeles River. She was so focused on the head that she did not notice the presence or absence of a tail.

.

Dragons in Los Angeles and Birds in the Imagination

The two sightings near Griffith Park are strange in themselves, for it looks like they are from the same kind of flying creatures, even though descriptions vary. They may also relate to other sightings in Southern California, including the Lakewood sighting of 2012.

Pterosaurs East of Griffith Park

Two pterosaur sightings in Los Angeles, in 2013, have caused a stir, being ten weeks apart and the second one being just a mile and a half south of the first one. Both eyewitnesses are young adult females, and both passed a brief credibility check; misidentifications also appear unlikely.

Griffith Park Pterosaur Sightings

It now seems obvious that these apparent ropens do return to the same places, at least on occasion. The sightings continue to be mostly in daylight, when humans can see much better. I am still convinced that these modern pterosaurs are nocturnal, rarely coming out in daylight. But there are enough of the creatures (and plenty of humans) to make impressive appearances when they make rare flights in daylight.

.

Michael Newton's "Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology"

How fortunate I was, earlier this month, to find in a public library the Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology - A Global Guide to Hidden Animals and Their Pursuers. With a list price of $75, it seems appropriate as a library reference, and probably published for that market, for few cryptozoology readers can afford to buy it.

Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology by Michael Newton (published early 2005)

.

The Ropen in this Cryptozoology Book

What nonfiction cryptozoology book compares in breadth with Michael Newton's encyclopedia? Cryptozoology A to Z, by Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark, has about 100 cryptids, but Newton's has 2744 names of cryptids or entries, in a book with 648 pages. Regarding the ropen of Papua New Guinea, however, the Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology was published in January of 2005, too early to benefit from two critical ropen expeditions in 2004 and several more since then. Newton's book reflects earlier weaknesses in reporting and misunderstandings about the glowing nocturnal cryptid of Papua New Guinea.

Quote #1: [According to information given to William Gibbons] . . . "natives of the region
actually recognized two flying cryptids. The first---identified by Gibbons as the 'true' Ropen, is apparently restricted to Rambutyo (or Rambunzo), a small island off the east coast of Papua New Guinea; and to Umzoi [read 'Umboi']."

Answer #1: Gibbons was probably limited by his sources of information in the late 20th century. Many of the reports of large nocturnal flying creatures (in Papua New Guinea) whose descriptions suggest pterosaurs---those can be explained as sightings of one species or closely related type. Large flying creatures are not restricted to any particular island (or two) where many other islands are within flying distance.

Quote #2: "Witnesses describe the animal as reptilian, with a 3-to-4-foot wingspan . . ."

Answer #2: Most eyewitnesses of these flying creatures in Papua New Guinea are natives, probably without any word for the English "reptile." Between a native's description and Gibbon's report, somebody, perhaps a missionary, may have interpreted something as suggesting a reptilian feature or features, but this may be third-hand information. Regarding "3-to-4-foot" wingspan, many sighting reports involve much larger wingspan estimates, not as likely from a different species as from older individual creatures that have had time to grow larger.

Quote #3: "A much larger species of Ropen---properly called Duah . . ."

Answer #3: Some species of animals continue to grow as they mature, differing from common species of birds which have a particular maximum size; it seems that the ropen is one of those that keeps growing with age. Regarding the "Duah," there is probably no such name, in Papua New Guinea, for any flying animal; the proper name is "duwas."

Quote #4: "The Duah/Ropen reportedly boasts a 20-foot wingspan and a bony crest on its head, thus becoming a dead-ringer for Pteranodon."

Answer #4: Nothing of the kind, although I had that belief when I first started preparing for my 2004 expedition. The ropen has a long tail, very long, with a Rhamphorhynchoid-like flange at the end of that tail. The long tail with a "diamond" at the end knocks down the Pterodactyloid conjecture.

.

Cryptozoology book Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology - A Global Guide

“Duah” is probably a distortion from some Westerner who heard the word “duwas” and thought of “duah” as the singular; it is not. The only real word I know (in the southwest Pacific) that is close to “duah” is the Tok Pisin word for “door.” To the best of my knowledge, there is no animal, real or unreal, that in a local PNG language is called “duah.”

More on Manta Ray Misidentification

Modern Pterosaurs need not exist with precise characteristics predicted by any particular cryptozoologist and with no other characteristics. Neither must those flying creatures exist according to precise rules established by any particular paleontologist. Whatever animals now live on this planet, they live regardless of human dogmas about what they "should" be like. The key to knowing about what life is like is in human experience with those animals; that means eyewitness experience.

Manta Ray Fish Revisited

Mr. Dale Drinnon has again brought up the idea that sightings of live pterosaurs, "many" of them, come from misidentifications of Manta rays jumping out of the water. He usually gives no precise example from any precise sighting, but generalizes. Here are some of the problems with insisting on the jumping-Manta-ray conjecture:

1. The example given by Drinnon, in his recent post, was a sighting in the Philippines. He said, "The Philippines sighting in specific lends itself to the Manta ray hypothesis most readily." But when he wrote that article he had very limited information on it. Critical details then came forward, which showed clearly that the sighting was not of a Manta ray fish jumping out of the water (two flying creatures over a city; claws between the wings; flapping frequency of once every three to four seconds, etc.)
2. Modern pterosaurs need not be precisely the same as pterosaurs known from fossils. How many species of pterosaurs might have existed without leaving any fossils that have been discovered by paleontologists!
3. If "many" sightings of modern pterosaurs are misidentifications of leaping Manta rays, why has Mr. Drinnon not given us many examples?
4. Has Mr. Drinnon had a scientific paper published, in a peer-reviewed journal of science, on this subject? (Scientific papers supporting the existence of modern pterosaurs have been published.)
5. How could any person see a Manta ray jump out of the water and come to believe it was an extant pterosaur? I have read nothing written by Mr. Drinnon that explains how such an incredible mistake could have taken place (generalities aside).
6. He mentions the lack of a "fin" at the end of the tail, regarding the Philippines sighting, but he says nothing about the many descriptions of a Rhamphorhynchoid-like tail vane in many sightings from around the world. Why ignore that critical detail? Why mention its lack in one sighting while mentioning nothing about the many sightings when it is present?

Road to Discovery

When the first gorilla in Africa was officially acknowledged scientifically, was it because eyewitness descriptions matched what paleontologists told us should be still living? Did a fossil expert, in the nineteenth century, tell explorers in Africa that there must be a primate of certain characteristics, thus allowing explorers to find gorillas?

Why not examine eyewitness descriptions with an open mind? Why should pterosaurs be treated drastically different from other kinds of animals? Human experience should prevail in the progress of science. Dogmatically holding onto ones imagined images can stifle scientific progress, if enough people choose to ignore human experience in favor of mutually-imagined phantoms.

Manta Ray Interpretation of Live Pterosaurs

The misidentification of a Manta ray oceanic fish does not adequately explain any significant pterosaur sighting, not even one sighting that I have analyzed.

Pterosaurs are not Manta Rays

No offense to cryptozoologists who might want to believe in the following interpretation of Manta rays, but those fish are nothing like what eyewitnesses see when they report flying creatures they call “pterodacyls.”

Response to Dale Drinnon

Don't confuse two sources of knowledge. The limited knowledge we have of pterosaurs from fossils is not at all the same knowledge that we have from eyewitness reports of modern pterosaurs.

News Media and Live Pterosaurs

In the Western world, the major problem with reporting a sighting of a living pterosaur to the news media remains the same since the time of Darwin: What news reporter or editor would take seriously a report of an "ancient" creature that is still living?

The more common practice, at least over the past century or so, seems to have been for news professionals to either ignore an eyewitness account of a live pterosaur or to treat it with humor. But there have been some exceptions.

Antwerp, Ohio, Sightings

The Antwerp Bee-Argus community newspaper, a few years ago, reported a pterosaur sighting. The editor used my interview-findings to report what the anonymous eyewitness encountered in northwestern Ohio:

. . . something strange flying over the Maumee River in the summer of 2003; he described it like a pterosaur, according to a recently-published book, Live Pterosaurs in America. It was reported to be chasing sparrows as it flew over the Route 49 bridge near Antwerp, Ohio.

. . . The animal appeared to be ten feet long, including a long tail. Whitcomb asked [the eyewitness] about feathers, but he replied, "absolutely no feathers." But something else made it different from any bird: It had teeth.

. . . About 80% of the reports of apparent pterosaurs in the U.S. involve a description of a long tail. The book refers to this as one of three evidences of the honesty of the eyewitnesses in general . . .
 

Travel Section of the Press-Telegram, Long Beach, CA

On October 15 [2004], I returned to Long Beach after spending two weeks on Umboi Island in Papua New Guinea. . . . to investigate reports of a large, nocturnal flying creature that the local people call ropen. I came back with notes and video from interviewing about 17 eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen this elusive creature that is the subject of many island legends.

Houston Chronicle Covers Marfa Lights

Live Pterosaur Press Releases

Two large long-tailed flying creatures, apparent pterosaurs, caught the Marine’s attention. He later reported that they were “flying together at low altitude, perhaps 100 feet, very close in range from where I was standing, so that I had a perfectly clear view of them.”

Pterosaurs on Canadian Television

Canadian radio-television host Richard Syrett interviewed cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb for an upcoming television episode . . .

"Pterodactyl" Hoax in France, 1800's

Much has been made of the obvious signs that this was only a hoax; I agree, it looks like a hoax.

San Fernando Valley, California, and Antwerp, Ohio

Under the heading of "Flying Dinosaurs," this refers to a few sightings in CA and OH.

New Cryptozoology Book in Kindle Format

Earlier this month, I published my first digital (ebook) book in Kindle format: Live Pterosaurs in Australia and in Papua New Guinea. I was happy to see it ranked number one yesterday, among Amazon Kindle nonfiction books on cryptozoology.

Many cryptozoology ebooks are about cryptids in general, others about a particular cryptid in a particular U. S. state, others about Bigfoot. My new book may be the only one about sightings of live pterosaurs in the southwest Pacific.

I quote from the Introduction:

We must begin with the basics: What is a pterosaur? It's not really a type of dinosaur, although it's associated with them. The flying creature is called "pterodactyl" by many non-scientists; some Americans call those featherless fliers "dinosaur birds" or "prehistoric birds." . . .

In modern eyewitness reports, long-tailed pterosaurs outnumber short-tails, at least four-to-one. Standard models of extinction make this ratio appear strange, for the long-tailed variety were thought to have dwindled before the short-tailed pterosaurs became dominant, at least that's the theory. Nevertheless, the ratio is significant in modern sightings, appearing consistent regardless of the culture or beliefs or education of the eyewitness. . . .

About "prehistoric" creatures, consider all that you have read in textbooks, all that you have seen in documentaries, all that you have heard from teachers. How often was the possibility of a modern dinosaur or pterosaur mentioned? Never? Western indoctrination into universal extinctions---that subject may deserve a book of its own; we'll cover it only in part, mostly in the first chapter.
 

More About the New Pterosaur Book

Although much in the new book is similar to some of the eyewitness accounts in the older Searching for Ropens, other sightings are new and quite interesting to compare.

 

Santa Fe Springs, California, Sightings

Please get in touch with me (Jonathan Whitcomb) if you have had a pterosaur sighting in Southern California (or anywhere else), whether or not it was in or near Santa Fe Springs.

Strange Long-Tailed Flying Creature, 2006

The eyewitness told me that he was on True Avenue, looking east towards the San Gabriel River and the 605 Freeway, when he saw the long-tailed "pterodactyl" flying in an irregular way, unlike any bird flight that the eyewitness had seen. At the end of the tail was a furry or hairy ball or similar structure; the distance prevented him from observing more details. The sighting was at night, but the "pterodactyl" was not too far away, maybe near Greenvale Avenue or between that street and the San Gabriel River.

In or near the city of Santa Fe Springs, California, (Los Angeles County) - sighting location

Santa Fe Springs Sighting of 2005
Early in 2005, I received a report of a "pterodactyl" in the Santa Fe Springs area. The creature was described as being about the size of a Cesna airplane. According to the report, "Its flapping caused a sound like a military chopper, only at a much slower pace."

There have been other sightings, over the years, in Los Angeles County.

Live Dragon in Los Angeles

In June of this year, in a peaceful residential neighborhood in Lakewood, northeast of Long Beach, a lady was shocked to see a featherless creature with a wingspan of at least six feet and a long tail. The end of that tail made the lady think it looked like a dragon, for it was triangular.

_______________________________________________________________________

Third edition of Live Pterosaurs in America, by Jonathan David Whitcomb

Reptilian Flying Creature near Long Beach?

In June of 2012, from a residential neighborhood of Lakewood, California, comes a report of a "dragon" or "pterodactyl," that was seen by a 38-year-old woman in her backyard, at about noon. The reptilian flying creature was described as featherless, with a wingspan of about six feet, and with a tail about four feet long.

The tail was described as having a structure at the end, a "triangle" that reminded the eyewitness of what she would expect at the end of the tail of a "dragon." The apparent Rhamphorhynchoid tail vane was held horizontally, meaning it could be seen better from above or below the creature rather than from the side.

The woman was only about twenty feet away from the apparent ropen when she saw it, as the creature was sitting on the lowest line of a telephone cable at the back of her backyard. The featherless flyer was almost over the edge of the storm channel that runs through the neighborhood.

No wonder the possums that used to commonly run along that same phone cable have disappeared over the last 12-18 months.

Storm channel in Long Beach, California, south of the neighborhood of the sighting

I, Jonathan Whitcomb, interviewed the anonymous eyewitness, with her husband, soon after the sighting, finding her credibility high and the possibility of a misidentification low. I believe this apparent ropen is related to the one reported five years ago near the university in Irvine, California, perhaps even the same species.

The Lakewood ropen was reported over a storm drain; the Orange County ropen was reported near a drainage system. The mouths of both systems empty into the Pacific Ocean and those channel mouths are only 17 miles apart. It's possible that ropens have come up the coast from Mexico, over the past few years, although sighting reports of "dragons" in California go back more than a hundred years.


Ropens in California

How can living Rhamphorhynchoid (“basal”) pterosaurs fly in California, in modern times? In the United States, we have been taught since early childhood that all such creatures became extinct many millions of years ago. Rather than delve into speculations about fossils, let’s now consider eyewitness testimonies.

Live Dinosaurs and Pterosaurs on Canadian Television

On May 5, 2012, Canadian radio-television host Richard Syrett interviewed cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb for an upcoming television episode of "The Conspiracy Show."

Whitcomb & Syrett listen to producer's instructions

Whitcomb explained his conjecture about the source of the more mysterious of the Marfa Lights in southwest Texas. He believes that they might be similar to the ropen lights of Papua New Guinea: large nocturnal flying creatures that are bioluminescent. Whitcomb described how two lights sometimes separate in a way to indirectly attract Big Brown Bats that catch insects.

He also told Syrett a little about his interview with Gideon Koro, a native living on Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea, who encountered the giant ropen in daylight at a remote crater lake. Koro told Whitcomb that the tail of the ropen was seven meters long.

On May 4, Syrett had interviewed Garth Guessman, another Southern Californian cryptozoologist who had explored Umboi Island in Papua New Guinea searching for living pterosaurs. Syrett has also interviewed William Gibbons, who had explored in Africa, searching for living dinosaurs.

The talk show is scheduled to be aired in Canada around October.

Two Ropen Cryptozoologists Interviewed for Television

Richard, some of those skeptics who were really shocked were actually witnesses themselves. . . . Some of those witnesses . . . are shocked at what they have seen and . . . relieved to know that there are actually others who’ve seen something similar.

Whitcomb Opposes Shooting Pterosaurs

Richard Syrett, host of “The Conspiracy Show” in Canada, asked me, Jonathan Whitcomb, about my opinion on proving the existence of living pterosaurs by shooting one of them. I made it clear that I oppose killing a modern pterosaur for that purpose.

Why a Hoax Fails

Why does a combination of hoaxes fail to explain the many sighting reports that have come up since the 1990's? Several things practically eliminate a hoaxes as an overall explanation for pterosaur sightings. Consider the data compiled from ninety-eight sightings, the more credible reports of apparent pterosaurs that I have encountered over the past eight years.

Wingspan Estimates
When we look at the wingspan estimates (58% of the sighting reports include it), we see
no dramatic peek above any valley, as we would expect from any major hoax-involvement:

2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10, 11, 11, 12, 12, 12.5,
13, 13, 13, 13, 15, 16, 16, 17, 17, 17, 18, 20, 20, 20, 20, 21, 21.5, 22, 24, 25, 25, 27,
29, 30, 30, 33, 33, 35, 40, 46

The five-number summary is: 2, 7.5, 13, 21.25, 46
Using Grubbs' test, there are no outliers here: a natural set of data.

Regarding hoax potential, perhaps the most obvious refutation of a combination of practical jokes is this: American hoaxers would most likely emphasize very large wingspan, to avoid any possibility of suggestions of misidentification of a large bird. But the data shows many estimates within the range of medium-to-large bird wingspans.

What about tail-length in relation to wingspan? Many sightings include descriptions of long tails that suggest Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs, and those long-tailed species are believed to have been much smaller, according to fossil records. But the estimates shown above, for wingspan, show nothing even remotely like any peak related to those fossils. Someone making a hoax on the basis of known sizes of those fossils would (when reporting a long tail) give a wingspan estimate less than about seven feet. The data shows something very different: Most estimates over seven feet. There was no major hoax involvement.

The data on wingspan estimates is consistant with what we would expect from the following combination of conditions:

1. Eyewitnesses had various capabilities in giving size estimates
2. A number of species of pterosaurs were observed
3. A number of ages of pterosaurs were observed (different sizes)
4. Sightings were under various conditions
5. Very few (if any) hoaxes were involved

Much could be said about the degree of certainty of lack of feathers; I'll summarize: For those who gave some indication of how certain they were about lack of feathers, most admitted that they were not sure about no-feathers, and that is not at all what we would expect for data contaminated with any significant number of hoaxes: Hoaxers would report a certainty of featherless appearance. The actual data shows the opposite: More eyewitnesses report probably-no-feathers than those who report definitely-no-feathers.

Skeptics are probably unaware that the sightings that I have publicized over the years have been the more-credible accounts, NOT the more-incredible ones. In general, when a report suggests something may be wrong with the eyewitness, I keep it on file for reference, but I do not publicize it. Probable-hoaxes were kept out, and are not among the ninety-eight reports that have been analyzed.

All of that, however, is not to say that not one of those ninety-eight reports was a hoax: only that there could not have been many hoaxes, far less than 20% maximum, and that would be stretching it. In the end, for at least one species of pterosaur to still be living, it only takes one of those many sightings to have been valid, to prove modern living pterosaurs.

Pterosaur Sightings From Hoaxes?

I have been interviewing eyewitnesses for eight years now, ordinary persons who encountered extraordinary flying creatures: apparent pterosaurs. For the most part, these eyewitnesses seem to be credible, with no apparent reason to play a hoax.

Tunnel Pterodactyl of 1856

Much has been made of the obvious signs that this was only a hoax; I agree, it looks like a hoax. But some critics of living-pterosaur investigations have tried to use that to dispute eyewitness sightings in the 20th and 21st Centuries. How shabby that reasoning! 

No Hoax With Pterosaur Sightings

Evelyn Cheesman was a biologist who searched for insects and small animals in remote areas, including New Guinea, in the 1920′s and 1930′s. . . . Nobody suggests Cheesman ever played a hoax.

Hoax or Pterosaur?

. . . the experiences of the U. S. Marine Eskin C. Kuhn, whose sighting has been called a ”hoax.” I gave him a surprise phone call, a few years ago, and found him to be highly credible, answering my questions as a valid eyewitness would respond, not as a hoaxer would respond. He has stood by his sighting account for four decades, in spite of accusations that his experience never happened.

Expert in Pterodactyls

This relates to an online discussion with the title "Jonathan Whitcomb: Pterodactyl Expert." I did not participate in that discussion and had no knowledge of it for many months, until it became prominent in a search engine result with similar key words. I do not link to that forum thread, for it has at least one libelous comment (about "lies" in my book).

Not everything was negative on that cryptozoology forum discussion; most of it, however, was ridicule (or worse) of me, Jonathan Whitcomb, as a person and ridicule of my writings, although I was not quoted. But for now I will concentrate more on the positive.

Words of "Adder"

. . . it is because by pure chance alone I happened upon his book and fell into this whole field called cryptozoology . . . I only like him because of the chance he gave me [to discover cryptozoology]

This seems an appropriate time to quote from my book Live Pterosaurs in America (Introduction in the third edition):

This book might make a few Americans uneasy to walk alone at night; my intention, however, is not to frighten but to enlighten as many readers as possible to know about live-pterosaur investigations. Those who’ve been shocked at the sight of a flying creature that “should” be extinct—those eyewitnesses, more numerous than most Americans would guess, need no longer be afraid that everyone will think them crazy, and no longer need they feel alone. Those of us who’ve listened to the American eyewitnesses, we who have interviewed them, we now believe. So, if you will, consider the experiences of these ordinary persons (I’ve interviewed most of them myself) and accept whatever enlightenment you may.

Names for Live Pterosaurs

From natives of Papua New Guinea to Westerners like Americans, Europeans, and Australians, we find that apparent living pterosaurs have many names.

Demon Flyer 

On Umboi Island, at least some of the villagers have a different perspective on the concept of spiritual beings, at least different from many Americans. An intelligent being need not be either 100% spirit or 100% physical. The ropen of Umboi, according to Darius (who recited native traditions to the American explorer Paul Nation, in 2002), is like a spirit but also like a man. It flies around at night and sometimes comes down from a mountain to hunt game animals. To many islanders, this being may appear to be both spiritual (flying) and human (hunting animals for food).

In addition, natives may have a more complex concept of spirits than most Westerners have. A spirit, to them, need not be either 100% good or 100% bad. In that sense, at least, “demon flyer” seems a poor translation for a word that probably does not have a purely negative connotation for them.

Ropen

Duane Hodgkinson . . . in 1944 was stationed near Finschhafen, in what was then called New Guinea. After he and his buddy walked into a clearing, they were amazed as a large creature flew up into the air. The men soon realized that it was no bird that started to circle the clearing. It had a tail “at least ten to fifteen feet long,” (book Searching for Ropens, 2007) and a long appendage at the back of its head: apparently, a live pterosaur.

Kor

The nocturnal flying creatures that he described to me [around northern islands of Papua New Guinea]–I believe they are ropens–were common and were dangerous to local fishermen previous to the early 1940′s, when their numbers declined. In these northern islands, the creature is called “kor.”

Pterodactyl

The word "pterodactyl" is often used by Americans when they really mean "pterosaur."

Live Pterosaurs in America now in Third Edition

Amazon has recently made available the third edition of my nonfiction cryptozoology book Live Pterosaurs in America. This new expanded edition has an important new sighting report: Patty Carson's encounter with the "dinosaur" when she was a child at the U. S. military station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 1965.

Introduction (first paragraph)

This book might make a few Americans uneasy to walk alone at night; my intention, however, is not to frighten but to enlighten as many readers as possible to know about live-pterosaur investigations. Those who’ve been shocked at the sight of a flying creature that “should” be extinct—those eyewitnesses, more numerous than most Americans would guess, need no longer be afraid that everyone will think them crazy, and no longer need they feel alone. Those of us who’ve listened to the American eyewitnesses, we who have interviewed them, we now believe. So, if you will, consider the experiences of these ordinary persons (I’ve interviewed most of them myself) and accept whatever enlightenment you may.

Page 22 (part of a sighting report: Southern California)

I asked her if she was sure and she said they weren’t lights exactly, but that the wings had a glow or reflection. I wasn’t sure what to make of that so when I got to work today I begin my search for “flying creature” on Google. One link led to another and eventually I discovered something known as a Ropen. That was it! The description matched exactly what we saw, down to the glow. This isn’t a hoax, we really saw something strange last night and after finding your website by following Wikipedia, I had to let you know. The time was approximately 10:30 pm and the nearest cross streets were Burbank Blvd & Woodman in the city of Sherman Oaks, CA (Los Angeles County). 

Cryptozoology Book Now Available

I couldn’t put this book down. It is absolutely fascinating to read about eyewitness accounts of the people who have seen these creatures. To learn about these testimonies from such an open minded perspective is refreshing in the extreme! . . . I highly recommend this book to anyone! People should know the truth about what is going on. No one ever hears anything about this unless they conduct extremely specific internet searches, even then, information is minimal. Jonathan Whitcomb needs to write more books! [from "StrangeDream" - Oct 11, 2011 review on Amazon]

Polish Language page on Live Pterosaurs: "zyc pterozaura" - język polski

W 2004 roku Jonathan Whitcomb zbadać wyspę. Umboi Island ma zwierzę latające. Nazywa się "ropen." Większość świadków widać tylko światła latające. Kilku świadków było bliżej do zwierząt, że leci.

Live Dragons

Of course we use the word "pterosaur," for it's more scientific sounding than "dragon." But with the assumption that many sightings, in modern times, of apparent living pterosaurs, add up to the present existence of at least one species of pterosaur, some "dragon" stories in earlier human history were from sightings of pterosaurs. I believe some dragons of history were pterosaurs.

A Live Dragon

Patty Carson was only a child when she and her brother saw the “dinosaur” at the U. S. Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, in 1965. But the children froze as they watched the flying creature that was only thirty feet away. Patty had the time to gain a clear memory of details. But the two children were not alone as eyewitnesses of a pterosaur in Cuba. [Eskin Kuhn and others also saw this kind of flying creature at Guantanamo Bay.]

Sightings of Apparent Pterosaurs in Papua New Guinea

Before the ship arrived on Umboi (Siassi), Luke and I met an old sailor who knew something about what we were seeking. "You want to catch Wawanar?" he asked. I assured him that we only wanted to get a "photo" of the flying animal. The old man told us that the dragon Wawanar is said to own the land and the sea; nobody can catch Wawanar.

I was not surprised that a native of Papua New Guinea would use the label "dragon," for that large flying creature of the night was famous for its mysterious glow and its giant size. I was also not surprised that natives of Pilio Island (the old sailor's original home) have their own name for the creature. But I had not expected to hear a story about it before the ship arrived at Umboi Island. 

Can Flamingos be Misidentified?

Is it possible for somebody to see a flying flamingo and misidentify it for a pterosaur? If the eyewitness had never before seen a flamingo, yes it could be misidentified as such, especially if the person was concentrating on the feet of that bird, for it may resemble a Rhamphorhynchoid (long-tailed pterosaur) tail vane. For somebody who had seen a flamingo, however, such a misidentification is unlikely.

But the Gitmo pterosaur seen by the U.S. Marine Eskin Kuhn, in 1971, and by Patty Carson, in 1965, is nothing like any flamingo. Their encounters, both of which were at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, deserve attention.

While Kuhn was observing the two pterosaurs, he concentrated on details, so that he could sketch them accurately (he is a talented artist), including "the bony vertebrae of the back that were clearly defined." Other details that he told me include the following:

. . . the bony crest at the back of the head that had a scythe-like shape instead of a pick-like shape; the long strands of hair in a tuft at the end of the tail (a brush.., not flesh covered as the rest)... and that detail has become muted by the many copies of the drawing . . .

In Kuhn's sketch, the length of the head dwarfs the length of the neck. In a flamingo, the opposite is true, and to a greater degree: A flamingo's neck makes the head look extremely short. That alone makes this case for the Gitmo Pterosaur.

Now to the sighting by Patty Carson. She told me, "The skin was a leathery, brownish reddish color. It had little teeth, a LOT of them." She examined the sketch drawn by Kuhn and told me that it was of the same creature that she had seen, even though she offered some minor-adjustment suggestions ("the proportions of the head are very good, and the body and the hind legs are exactly as I remember."). Obviously Patty Carson did not see a flamingo with leathery skin and teeth.

The point? We must not let flamingo legs and feet distract us from the obvious differences between those feathered birds and the featherless Gitmo Pterosaur.

Searching for Dragons Book

The third edition of Searching for Ropens I will retitle "Searching for Dragons," but the changes and additions will be much deeper than just the title. It will be in true cryptozoology genre, with little reference to religion. It will also have more eyewitness sighting reports. I hope that it will be published before Christmas, but it could be early in 2012.

From the Acknowledgements:

How could I have dared travel to Papua New Guinea alone, to search for living pterosaurs in a remote jungle, without detailed guidance from Paul Nation, who instructed me where to go on Umboi Island, whom to meet, what to say, what village to avoid, and what gifts to give to particular islanders? He made my expedition possible.

How could Paul Nation have dared to return to Papua New Guinea so many times, without support from a number of friends and family members? The dangers could not hold him back, although he contracted serious infection twice, on two of his four expeditions.

Live Pterosaurs in Washington

No, I don't mean vulture-politicians in Washington, D.C., but the strange flying creatures, often reported as featherless, in the state of Washington.

Reports of Live Pterosaurs in the State of Washington
Daylight Sighting Around 1987, in a Rural Area

“I was 15 yrs old [when] I saw two ropens together sitting on a fence. I was riding my bike home from a friend’s house around 5 pm in [a town in southwest Washington state]. I lived in the country with my parents . . . on a wood plank fence were two of the biggest bird-like creatures I could ever imagine! I almost crashed my bike! They were about 50 ft from me; the first thing I noticed was their heads, then I thought this can’t be! Could they be dinosaurs? . . ."

Bat-Winged Creature Seen by Family in Washington State

In the first email, the witness reported: 

We live in the Pacific Northwest on many acres of mostly tree covered land with a creek.  We have seen and heard a strange nocturnal, bat-like creature.  This thing is huge, light grey, skin with no fur, feathers or scales.  It silently swoops down at you with giant bat wings.  It makes a sound like a jungle monkey or bird, thus we refer to it as the monkey bird. . . .

There were two of them together and they seemed fearless of me when they swooped down at me more than once and returned way up to the top of the highest trees.  I couldn’t get a look at the faces or eyes, mainly the huge grey bat-wings approximately 4′ span .are what I could see.  They seem to show up every summer always after dusk anytime through the night.  Locals don’t seem to know about them. . . .

The witness reported back:

Thank you for checking with your colleague.  Are the owl wings shaped like bat wings?  Do they cling to the sides of the trees?  Do they make a sound like “Hooooowhahhhhhh, aaahooooowahhhh!  with the wah like the rolling of your tongue?   Also the skin on the chest and wings was grey, mottled with some brownish color like a Mexican hairless dogs skin, and it had like visible blood veins kind of like protruding on the skin area.

Live Pterosaurs in New Mexico

Considering the rather low human population of the state of New Mexico, a respectable number of pterosaur sightings have been reported, and a television news show included at least one of those sightings.

Giant Pterosaur in New Mexico

“I live in central N.M.. Fourteen years ago, in [Socorro], N.M., me and a close friend . . . were hiking during the midday . . . and something blocked the sun . . . We both looked up to see . . . a large flying animal.

“It had a 20-30 foot wingspan and was about the same length long. It had a long tail with [a] seeming spike at the end. Its head was very pterodactyl shape with a fluted back pointy head. It glided at about 700 feet . . . and [it landed] somewhere on the southern expanse of Magdalena Mountains.”

Another Eyewitness of Pterosaur in New Mexico

A report attributed to the cryptozoologist Phillip O'Donnell (whether or not he interviewed this eyewitness) involves a pterosaur in New Mexico:

"Ron Monteleone was driving near Maxwell, New Mexico, early one morning in June of 1972 . . . Suddenly he saw a twenty-five to thirty-foot pteranodon-like creature fly out a ravine.”

That "pterdanodon," if the sighting is genuine, may be the same type of pterosaur seen by an eyewitness in a Southern California desert.

Pterosaur in the Anza Borrago State Park, California

"We were sitting in the late afternoon shade of a ridge . . . enjoying the solitude and peace and quiet of the desert when it passed over. . . . It was soaring along the side of a plateau not far from us. . . . I remember saying ‘. . . that looks just like a Taradactyl!’ . . . it had to have been [a] lot larger than an eagle, maybe three times larger. . . . the face . . . seemed to be narrow and mostly beak. . . . It did not have a tail. But it did have a nub where a tail would be."

 ***************************************************************************

How are sightings in the United States related to those in the southwest Pacific? How do some apparent nocturnal pterosaurs pertain to bats, and how are bats irrelevant? How could modern living pterosaurs have escaped scientific notice? These mysteries have slept in the dark, beyond the knowledge of almost all Americans, even beyond our wildest dreams (although the reality of some pterosaurs is a living nightmare to some bats). These mysteries have slept . . . until now.


Buy your own copy of the second edition of Live Pterosaurs in America.
A nonfiction cryptozoology book





Pterosaur in Australia

In the summer of 2010, I received an email from a lady in Australia. After doing some online research, Kathy was surprised at how many eyewitnesses had seen what she had seen: a giant pterosaur.

Mount Coolum National Park is north of Brisbane, Queensland (east coast of Australia).

We saw it at Mt Coolum Sunshine Coast . . . I was [driving] towards the ocean . . . . We heard . . . the swoosh noise. (It is a modern car; the windows were up, so that is a loud sound) . . . [we saw] a black shape coming from the trees; the next thing we saw was one wing over the windscreen. It crossed our path . . . I couldn't see the road for a moment, just wing covering the entire windscreen. The body was over the car and it's other wing, over the back . . . we could not see the body . . . [only] the wing: bat like leather, veins and leather stretched over a bone structure. That was dinosaur era.

This thing was bigger than us in every way. I was happy to have my 13 year old daughter home safely, I can tell you.!!! When we told my brother the story, we both moved our arms the same. We saw it flap it's wing once: swoosh . . . I have looked around Mt Coolum for it's home. I believe that is where its home is . . . It was heading from Coolum to the Mountain, like bats do at night. It was around 8.30 at night when we saw it.

This encounter may have been with a flying creature similar to the one seen in Perth, Australia, in 1997, even though the sightings were on opposite sides of the continent. Both apparent pterosaurs were huge, large enough to be considered potentially dangerous to humans. Neither the Perth flying creature nor the Queensland flying creature could reasonably be construed to have been any bird or bat classified by modern Western science.

Giant Pterosaurs in Australia (East Coast: Queensland)

During his farm chores, between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., he [a boy of about twelve years old] forgot something and had to backtrack. . . . he saw a large creature with wings . . . on the roof of the shed, just above the door where he had recently been standing.

. . . the boy had a brief view of the body and wings of the creature. It was larger than an average man six feet tall, with wings that folded to the side and back, reminiscent of bat wings.

Dragons or Rhamphorhynchoid Pterosaurs

Many citizens in developed nations of Europe and North America would assume that traditional beliefs in universal extinction are valid for all species of dinosaurs and pterosaurs; but the eyewitnesses know better.

Response to Dale Drinnon

In a post by Dale Drinnon, I was glad to see specific details in critical reports of apparent pterosaurs (Frontiers of Zoology, March 3, 2011, post), but I was a little surprised at how he emphasized an idea about how a modern pterosaur should not appear. In "Ropens, Pterosaurian Sightings And Manta Rays," Drinnon said, "There is a problem in all of these sightings . . . in that the body conformation is NOT what you would expect of a giant Pterosaur." I suggest that insistence on strict conformity with his precise expections are unreasonable. (See the Ropens site on a giant pterosaur.)

Don't confuse two sources of knowledge. The limited knowledge we have of pterosaurs from fossils is not at all the same knowledge that we have from eyewitness reports of modern pterosaurs. If he were more precise, he might say something like this: "Fossils of Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs are small, in general, compared with fossils of Pterodactyloid pterosaurs." Of course. Who would disagree with that? But Drinnon has come up with an idea that if pterosaurs were still living, we would expect them to be either non-giants or non-Rhamphorhynchoids, not giant Rhamphoryhynchoids, and that sightings must conform to our expectations. He does not tell us how he arrived at that conclusion, only that "you would not expect" eyewitness reports to be as they are. (See a site about "extinction" and pterosaur fossils)

A serious problem becomes obvious when we consider what he has done with that idea. He uses it to cast doubt on all eyewitness reports that involve a large or giant long-tailed pterosaur or apparent pterosaur. But what would happen to science if all observations were judged by what we had previously expected, and all data involving the unexpected were immediately dismissed? That might appear to be potentially good news for college students at the poverty level, for science textbooks would never again need to be revised, for all scientific knowledge would be declared completed, with no new discoveries allowed.

Modern pterosaurs need not be precisely like what we have so far discovered in fossils. Many species may have lived without leaving any fossils. Many more may have left fossils that we have not yet discovered. Why should those species be exactly like those that have left fossils that we have already discovered? I see no reason for Dale Drinnon to be so dogmatic about what a modern pterosaur might be like.