Extinction and fossils
February 16th, 2010 at 3:18A common objection to living-pterosaur research is something like this: “No pterosaur fossil has been found above the Mesozoic.” That objection has serious problems.
Do we believe in living organisms (that they live now) because of recent fossils? No. People believe in presently-living creatures because people have seen them living. The point? People have seen living pterosaurs.
Another problem with the “Mesozoic objection” relates to the assumption that no pterosaurs have lived recently. Circular reasoning is involved here. See: Mesozoic objection.
The third edition of the cryptozoology book Live Pterosaurs in America, by Jonathan David Whitcomb, was published November 2, 2011, and is now available on Amazon.com. “The writing is easy to read and he adds comments and analysis to make it all more useful. Mostly, the author lets the sightings speak for themselves, which is good. A worthwhile book.” (Red Rabbit, Nov 22, 2010; review of first edition)
Tags: circular reasoning, fossil, Mesozoic
February 18th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Circular reasoning comes into play when strata of soils are dated by a fossil and that fossil is dated by the strata. It may not be obvious, but it is circular reasoning, meaning that it is not sound reasoning at all.
April 7th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
[...] (which itself is disputed by many living-pterosaur investigators), is the most recent part of the Mesozoic era, ending 65 million years ago. But “survived beyond” is the key point of interest, [...]