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Science and modern pterosaurs

Pterosaur seen in Cuba, in 1971, sketched by Eskin KuhnSomething 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

Boy sees pterosaur in Texas

pterosaur seen by Aaron Tullock in Texas in about 1995I interviewed Aaron Tullock by email in January of this year. I delayed publishing his account until I had established a firm credibility base for this eyewitness, for part of his description of the apparent pterosaur differs from other accounts: The long-tailed flying creature was mostly colored orange and black.

Late in the afternoon of a day with “only a few clouds,” eight-year-old Aaron was looking around the yard of his grandparents’ home. Something flew over his head (coming from behind him, so he could not have seen it coming) and stopped by hovering eight feet above the ground.

The creature flew away before the boy’s mother entered the yard, and she discounted the encounter as a combination of a bird and a child’s imagination. His young age might seem to count against his credibility, but he reported many details that count against this coming from the imagination of an eight-year-old. A number of factors count against any hoax with this account. The long tail with a Rhamphorhynchoid-like shape at the end, together with absence of feathers—these count against any misidentification involving a bird or bat. What’s left except “Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur?”

I’ll give this more attention before I write the second edition of Live Pterosaurs in America. (The 2nd edition might not be published before early 2011.)

More: Giant Rhamphorhynchoid flies over Lake Pung, Papua New Guinea