Fossils | Live Pterosaur

September 14, 2019

Ropen Song on Youtube

Jonathan Whitcomb sings the ropen song - sea coast of Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea

By the ropen expert Jonathan Whitcomb

Yesterday, I uploaded another ropen video to Youtube: “Ropen Song – I’d never find you in a zoo.” I wrote the song especially for this mini-documentary about these nocturnal flying creatures, yet it will not be the last time I write a song about the ropen. This was the first time I ever sang for a Youtube video.

Here are the lines, not counting repetitions:

There’s an old world awaiting
Just north of Aubussi
It is Papua New Guinea
Predating history

I looked for you on Umboi
To see if you were you
For I thought I’d never find you in a zoo

You’re not a magic dragon
But you do live by the sea
On a far-off jungle island
In a land called Siassi

From the video “Ropen Song – I’d never find you in a zoo”

The first part of this song is a spoof on “I’ll never find another you” by the Seekers, of Australia (a top hit in the 1960’s). After the song, I explain why the skeptical attack against the ropen, related to the combination of the head crest and the Rhamphorhynchoid-like tail, is completely invalid and for more than one reason.

Watch the video here:

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Do ropens have hair?

Why talk about hair on modern pterosaurs, or apparent living pterosaurs, now? I recently saw part of a video on Youtube, a highly critical attack against the possibility that such flying creatures exist. My video is a response to the idea that the ropen is not a real animal because it is reported to have no hair. Watch the video to get an introduction to my response . . .

Declaration on the Ropen

A minority of the overall sightings have been of featherless flying creatures that seemed to have been less like the ropen and more like the pterosaurs known from fossils as Pterodactyloids. This “Declaration on the Ropen,” however, is about the ones that are more like Rhamphorhynchoids, those pterosaurs with longer tails.

Living pterosaurs in newspapers

That point of view of a typical newspaper reader means that news professionals generally take a skeptical view when writing about people who report observing large featherless flying creatures. That kind of skepticism comes out in the article, even should many eyewitnesses report such sightings in the same state or city. That is not just theoretical, for the state of North Carolina is an example, as is the city of Raleigh.

Should we fear living pterosaurs?

I suggest people be careful about wild animals in general, including apparent pterosaurs. We have much to learn about these flying creatures, and some of them, at least, may be dangerous.

Recent Sightings of Apparent Living Pterodactyls

Connecticut
Minnesota
Ohio

October 2, 2018October 2, 2018

Two Types of Pterosaurs Still Living

Two types of modern pterosaurs - long tailed from Cuba and one in Papua New Guinea without any long tail

By modern-pterosaur investigative journalist Jonathan Whitcomb

Modern pterosaurs come in two flavors, apparently similar to what scientists have found in fossils of those featherless flying creatures from the past:

Long-tailed Rhamphorhynchoid-like
Short-tailed Pterodactyloid-like

Contrary to the surface appearance from looking at a statistic in my compilation of data early in the year 2013, extant pterosaurs in modern times do not likely actually involve a 20-to-1 ratio of long-tails to short-tails. The long tails catch the attention of the eyewitness, riveting that feature in the memory of the person who sees it. It could be a ratio of 5-to-1 or even 3-to-1, but long tails unquestionably dominate sightings, compared with short tails.

With 41% of the 128 sightings including descriptions of a long tail, the Rhamphorhynchoid-like ones surely outnumber the Pterodactyloid-like ones. Shocking as the existence of a species of modern pterosaur may be to peoples of Western cultures, this statistical fact gives a whole new level of shock, for it strongly suggests that evolution has not taken place in these featherless flying creatures in anything remotely like what’s been portrayed.

In the image shown below, the left side is the sketch drawn by the eyewitness Eskin Kuhn in 1971 at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; the right side is a still image from a video recorded by the biologist Peter Beach, during an expedition on New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea, in 2015. Both sightings appeared to have been of modern pterosaurs.

The left side shows an obvious similarity to end-of-tail flanges of Rhamphorhynchoids; the right side shows the absence of any long tail on the huge featherless flying creature that was seen clearly in daylight by two American explorers.

Rhamphorhynchoid-like in 1971 (left) and Pterodactyloid-like in 2015

We need to keep an open mind to the possibility that we should set aside old ideas about the origins of pterosaurs known from fossils, including popular concepts from previous centuries. This field of cryptozoology needs to graduate into a new field of investigation in biology.

About Jonathan Whitcomb

I’m an independent investigative journalist, having spent more hours in this narrow field of cryptozoology, during the past fifteen years, than any other person in the world, to the best of my knowledge: well over 10,000 hours.

Some of my work has been interviewing eyewitnesses of apparent living pterosaurs, sometimes by phone but usually by emails. On occasion I visit the location of a sighting, and I sometimes travel to interview eyewitnesses face-to-face. Most of my time, however, has been with analyzing, comparing, and writing about the sightings. I’ve had direct contact with eyewitnesses from five continents (not counting second-hand and third-hand accounts).

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Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs

Those interviews in Papua New Guinea in 2004 do not scientifically prove the ropen is very closely related to the Sordes pilosus, but it gives strong cryptozoological evidence that it may be related to that pterosaur known from fossils.

Pterosaurs Still Living

About twelve cryptozoologists who have played a major role in this field of cryptozoology: modern non-extinct pterosaurs

Unicornorism and Living Pterosaurs

Protecting old ideas by appealing to how long they have been popular or to how popular they are. This is the main enemy to objective living-pterosaur investigations, this dogmatic position of many Westerners.

Pterodactyloid

Late in 2006, Garth Guessman, a living-pterosaur investigator, interviewed three Americans who had worked in or visited a medical mission in Central New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea. The three had separate sightings, in daylight, of what may be extant (non-extinct) Pterodactyloids. (short-tailed pterosaurs, a.k.a. “pterodactyls”)

No tail on flying creature – expedition in 2015

. . . two Americans, Milt Marcy and Peter Beach, were searching for a living pterosaur. They spent quite a few weeks on that remote tropical island [New Britain, Papua New Guinea] in 2015, but they were rewarded with a sighting of a flying creature that others had previously seen in that area: a non-extinct pterosaur.

Modern long-tailed pterosaurs

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.

Pterodactyl sightings

Many years ago, I tried (without success) to get in touch with Allison Jornlin, the writer of an article on a pterosaur sighting in Wisconsin: “PTERODACTYLS OVER WISCONSIN — STRANGE THINGS ARE HAPPENING IN THE SKY!”

January 22, 2013December 20, 2014

Podcast-Radio Interview: Whitcomb & Syrett, part one

In June of 2012, I was interviewed by phone, by Richard Syrett of the Canadian “Conspiracy Show.” That podcast production is not to be confused with the Canadian television show by that same name, for which I was interviewed and videotaped a few weeks earlier. The following is a small part of the podcast.

Richard Syrett:

Listen, we have an interesting program for you tonight, coming up in the second hour, [death of the King of Pop] . . . Now we’re going to talk about something entirely different, something in the sky, something that has been . . . recently seen in Southern California: could be, some are saying, a living pterosaur. That’s right, a pterosaur. Those are dinosaurs, folks, or from the dinosaur family, I guess, and they’re supposed to have been extinct some sixty million years, however my next guest is a field researcher, author of the book Searching for Ropens, and he has traveled to places as far flung as Papua New Guinea in an attempt to verify sightings of this creature by the local indigenous people in New Guinea.

This nocturnal winged creature goes by several names, including the “ropen.” It’s a flying cryptid allegedly . . . in this vicinity . . . and [elsewhere] in the southwest Pacific. Perhaps we’ll find out.

And we’re happy to have Jonathan Whitcomb, here on the Conspiracy Show, AM 740. Jonathan, how are you tonight?

Jonathan Whitcomb:

Oh, great, Richard. Thank you very much for having me on.

Syrett:

And it was great meeting you down in . . . Long Beach, California, several months ago. [a few weeks previous]

Whitcomb:

Yea, that was a delight. Thank you very much.

Syrett:

Now, first of all, let’s identify what we’re talking about here . . . A pterosaur. Would that include pterodactyls?

Whitcomb:

Most people call it “pterodactyl,” in Western countries like United States, Canada. They say “pterodactyl.” What they actually mean is what the scientists call a “pterosaur.” Some people call it a “flying dinosaur” . . . associated with dinosaurs; but it’s basically a usually large type of a flying creature that are not bats.

Syrett:

So in other words, a pterodactyl would be one type of pterosaur?

Whitcomb:

Well . . . I don’t get into technical details . . . the scientists use the word totally differently . . . [when] you hear somebody on the street say “pterodactyl,” I just take it they mean a pterosaur . . . They [scientists] . . . mean a specific species of pterosaur, but that’s not the common usage.

Syrett:

OK, now what do they look like? What do we know about them from the fossil record? . . .

Whitcomb:

We first had fossils that were discovered in Western science . . . in 1780’s . . . about the time that George Washington became president. . . . Since then, scientists have continuously discovered new fossils . . . delicate kind of bones, so a lot of times they’re just crushed . . . difficult to decipher things . . . originally, in the late 1700’s, they were thought to be like aquatic, oceanic, creatures that used their flippers for swimming, and then, about 1801 or so, the scientists [began thinking] . . . these are more likely to be flying creatures. So that’s what we have: a lot of fossils now.

Syrett:

What type of wingspan are we talking about? I’m guessing there would be a range depending on the specific species.

Whitcomb:

There’s a huge range . . . from very few feet to . . . over thirty feet . . . We have reports from around the world that vary tremendously . . . The variety is so great that I’ve used that as evidence that there’s no hoax, in general, involved . . .

I’ll give you an example just from recently . . . a sighting in California . . . one wingspan estimated at five and a half feet, . . . observed in the day time at close range, so that’s a fair estimate. . . .

Syrett:

Now a five foot wingspan wouldn’t be that unusual. I would think something like the California Condor would have a wingspan perhaps in that range, but when you talk about wingspans of, you know, twenty feet, or thereabouts, I mean we are talking about obviously something . . . there’s no mistaking that. That’s not a condor; that’s not a pelican, not a stork . . .

Whitcomb:

When you have a sighting that’s way over twenty feet, it’s obviously not a Flying Fox fruit bat, not a bird like an eagle. And we do have sightings [with] very high credibility . . .

For example, Duane Hodgkinson, in 1944, in Papua New Guinea, which then was called “New Guinea.” . . . Finschhafen on the mainland, and that was estimated wingspan like that of a Piper Tri-Pacer airplane, which is about twenty-nine feet. That’s definitely not a bird.

Syrett:

When we come back, we’ll get into the Hodgkinson sighting, back in 1944 in New Guinea, and we’ll discuss exactly what he says he saw . . . .

To be continued – Part Two of Interview

Whitcomb on Radio Talk Show in Australia

On September 25th [2012], I was interviewed, by telephone, by Aaron Wright of Mysterious Universe, in Australia.

Flying Dinosaur

[Quoting from the book Searching for Ropens] One night, in April of 1993, near the northwest coast of Umboi Island [Papua New Guinea], after a large funeral procession arrived at the burial location, a creature with a glowing red tail came from the sea . . .

January 21, 2013December 31, 2013

Pterosaur Tail Vane or Flange

flying creature roughly sketched by eyewitness Sandra Paradise

Rhamphorhynchoid Tail Structure

Modern pterosaur eyewitnesses often report a structure at the end of the long tail of the flying creature, with different witnesses using different words for the structure:

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)

Among scientists, the word “vane” is used for that structure (on pterosaur fossils) at the end of many of the long tails, although some use the word “flange.” Among non-scientists, the word “Rhamphorhynchoid” is little-known, but it refers to what paleontologists call the “basal” pterosaurs.

Orientation of Tail Vane

In the book The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs, by Peter Wellnhofer, the work of Othniel Charles Marsh (nineteenth century) is mentioned regarding tail vane orientation:

“A particular controversy developed around [terminal tail vane orientation] . . . vertically or horizontally? Was it to be interpreted as intended to control height or sideways movement? [In airplane principle-axes terminology, a flap parallel to the ground surface controls pitch; a flap oriented like ship rudders controls yaw.] Marsh oriented it . . . vertically as he had noticed a slight asymmetry in the outline. Later for aerodynamic reasons it was seen as a height control and oriented horizontally. But several indications suggest that Marsh was right after all.”

Eyewitnesses, however, seem to show that Marsh was wrong. The tail vanes of modern pterosaurs, according to three eyewitnesses, are oriented horizontally, allowing the long-tailed flying creatures to change direction up and down. Plane pilots call this “pitch control.”

Three eyewitness make it clear how the tail flange is oriented for modern Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs.

Sandra Paradise — I spoke with Sandy by phone two days ago, bringing up the tail-vane orientation with no warning. Without hesitation she informed me, making it clear that she had seen the tail-end structure oriented horizontally, parallel to the surface of the road on which she was driving.
Patty Carson — She was sure about the orientation of the long tail on the “dinosaur” that flew away from her and her brother, in 1965 at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She let me know that there was no doubt: horizontal. I continued questioning her to be sure there was no misunderstanding, she confirmed it.
Anonymous Eyewitness — The lady who saw the “pterodactyl” in her backyard, on June 19, 2012, in Lakewood, only a few miles from my house in Long Beach, California, answered my many questions. When we got to the subject of tail vane orientation, she had no doubt that it was horizontal. And her nose was less than twenty feet from that particular tail vane.

Sketch drawn by the eyewitness Sandra Paradise, who was sure of horizontal tail-flange orientation—she also gave many details about the tail

Crude sketch drawn by an eyewitness of a modern pterosaur seen in Virginia

Statistics on Pterosaur Tails

The latest analysis from the data collected from 128 sighting reports (chosen because they appeared more likely than not to have been from actual encounters with modern pterosaurs) reveals the following about pterosaur tails:

For the total sightings (128), 41% included reference to a long tail but only 2% referred to the absence of a long tail. Of the 128 reports, about 28% included reference to something at the end of the tail, something suggesting a Rhamphorhynchoid tail vane.

Some of the data from 24 of the 128 chosen sighting reports of living pterosaurs worldwide—includes #5 long tail, and #14 tail flange

The Truth of Tall Tails

Why do so many “pterodactyl” sighting reports involve apparent Rhamphorhynchoid tails (long, often seen with a “diamond” or “spade” or similar shape at the tail end)? Most modern pterosaurs, apparently, are long tailed.

Ropen Sighting in Florida

. . . a tail as long as its torso with a large bulb or lump at the tail very diamond shaped . . .