Something in our Western culture seems to say “unscientific,” whenever the subject of modern living pterosaurs comes up. It’s not the countless fossils sitting on countless shelves in countless laboratories and museums, for countless fossils are very similar to presently-living organisms. Could it be that we have been indoctrinated, for generations, into the idea that all dinosaurs and pterosaurs have been extinct for many millions of years? Indeed, that is what projects the feeling of “unscientific,” when an eyewitness reports a living pterosaur. The feeling is absent from natives of third-world countries, where the extinction dogma is absent. They have no problem with a living dragon.

“Superstitious” cannot reasonably be used to dismiss native-eyewitess testimonies; their superstitions are left out of their testimonies. “Religious bias” cannot be reasonably used to dismiss American-eyewitness testimonies; the creationist researchers are not, for the most part, the eyewitnesses, but the creationists interview and quote those of various beliefs who describe obvious pterosaurs. And the testimonies of natives of Papua New Guinea coorelate with those of Americans and Australians: mostly large or giant flying creatures, with no sign of feathers and with very long tails.

Let us promote scientific investigations of reports of modern pterosaurs.

The sketch above was drawn by the eyewitness Eskin Kuhn, who observed two long-tailed pterosaurs flying in daylight over the Guantanamo Bay military station, in 1971.

More: Scientific Paper on Living Pterosaurs

A common objection to the idea of living pterosaurs is simply “they all became extinct millions of years ago.” But why should anyone believe that extinction idea? In Western countries, in particular the United States, universal extinctions of dinosaurs and pterosaurs is drilled into us from kindergarden onwards. No reasons for total extinction are offered, only continuous indoctrination. In fact, fossils do not prove extinctions.

We need to listen with open minds to eyewitnesses who have seen creatures that cannot easily be explained as non-pterosaurs. This will eventually free us to discover and classify modern living pterosaurs.

Third edition of Live Pterosaurs in America – true, nonfiction

The dominance of long tails and head crests has caused skeptics to insinuate that hoaxers are creating a hodge-podge of pterosaur characteristics, taking attributes from different types of pterosaurs and constructing a hoax thereby. Those skeptics, however, fail to carefully examine the hoax hypothesis, for there are numerous problems with the idea that hoaxes played a significant role in the overall eyewitness testimonies.

At least one species of Rhamphorhynchoid (long-tailed pterosaur) known from fossils, the Scaphognathus crassirostris, did have a head crest. The presence of a head crest on a ropen (or modern long-tailed pterosaur) is hardly a sign of a hoax; how many potential hoaxers would know about that fossil? (And how many natives on remote tropical islands would know about any fossils?) Westerners who might consider a pterosaur hoax would most likely use what is well-known in Western culture: stubby-tailed pterosaurs, like those depicted often in movie and television sci-fi. Potential native hoaxers would talk about flying humans that transform themselves into snakes; honest native eyewitnesses talk about a long-tailed feather-less creature, and only some native eyewitnesses have had a good-enough viewing angle to allow them to see the head crest (Gideon Koro, of Umboi Island, was honest enough to admit that he did not have a good view of the head of the giant ropen that flew over Lake Pung around 1994).

The consistency, in eyewitness descriptions from around the world, of the combination of a long tail and a head crest (in a feather-less flying creature) is evidence for a living creature, not a hoax. And why should a modern pterosaur be very much like most pterosaur fossils? Ridicule from skeptics comes from our adopting the obvious interpretation of those eyewitness descriptions: a modern living pterosaur. “Unlike pterosaur fossils” is not just inaccurate: It is irrelevant.

A 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)