Pterodactyl “Civil War” Photo

Ptp photograph - Civil War soldiers - pterosaur
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By Jonathan D. Whitcomb

What would be the ideal way to come to grips with the Ptp (“Civil War pterodactyl photo”) image? I believe it could be this: Somebody would discover an old book or magazine, best if published before around the 1970’s, with the image plainly visible on one of its pages. But as of mid-2022, that does not seem to have happened, so we have to make do with the image we have: apparent American soldiers, dressed like men of the Union army of the Civil War, at least with uniforms that suggest such to the casual observer of the apparently old photo.

Now take a closer look, in particular at the belt buckle of one man:

rectangular belt buckle of apparent Civil War Union soldierRectangular belt buckle on a low-ranking soldier

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Rectangular belt buckles were not, apparently, worn by common Union soldiers during the American Civil War, as I understand. Is this just a rare exception shown in this Ptp image? Look at other men in Ptp:

apparent Civil War Union soldier BS1Apparent American soldier “BS1” with rectangular belt buckle

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American soldier with rectangular belt buckle - pterodactyl photoAnother man (BS5) in the “pterodactyl” photo called “Ptp”

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"Civil War" Pterodactyl photo, in part: soldier "BS-4"“BS-4” also has a rectangular belt buckle

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Apparently not one of the six men has a rank even as high as a sergeant, and not one of them seems to have an oval belt buckle, which has been called the standard buckle shape for common Union soldiers during the American Civil War. So what are we to conclude?

Were they Civil War reenactors of the 20th or 21st centuries? No, that is very unlikely. Why? They would have had oval belt buckles, for actors portraying common soldiers on the Union side of the Civil War have oval belt buckles, almost without any exception, at least according to what I have discovered in my examinations of many photos of such reenactors.

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Civil War reenactors - recent decades - "Union soldiers"Modern American Civil War reenactors (Union soldiers)

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The Meaning of Belt-Buckle Shape in the “Pterodactyl” Photo

Bear with me and I’ll get to the point about the apparent pterosaur in the Ptp image. For lower-ranking Union soldiers of the American Civil War, and for reenactors who dress in similar uniforms, the belt buckles were, and are, oval shaped. What is the most likely explanation for the rectangular ones on the soldiers in Ptp? The photo was recorded AFTER the end of that war, maybe between about 1866 and 1878. That would explain the rectangular belt buckles: It was after the Civil War ended.

oval belt buckles of Union Civil War reenactorsOval-shaped belt buckles from photos of Union Civil War reenactors

The above photos are taken from reenactors with uniforms for common soldiers of the American Civil War (Union), in other words those with ranks below sergeant. The declaration that some skeptics have made, namely that Ptp resulted from actors working for the Freakylinks TV show about two decades ago, is now brought into serious question.

Not only do the uniforms not resemble those of Civil War reenactors in terms of the belt buckles, but other details discredit the idea that recent actors were photographed in creating Ptp. Look at the general appearance of these men:

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six apparent American soldiers between about 1866 and 1878 with a giant pterodactyl

Notice the general build of these six men who appear to be common soldiers, probably below the rank of sergeant. To me, they seem a bit too well fed to be from 1864 or 1865, but not nearly as heavy set as many Civil War reenactors of the 20th and 21st centuries. In other words, their general build suggests they were photographed after 1865 but before 1970. Yet there is more.

Notice something just below the left boot of the “FS” soldier, also just below the end of the beak of the apparent pterodactyl.

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19th-century stabilizing block or tree branch for photographyApparent stabilizing block of wood or tree branch

The above magnification of part of the Ptp image shows what appears to be an object under the boot of one soldier and possibly also under the beak of the large flying creature. This suggests that the photographer was using the older technology in recording the photo: This kind of recording took a number of seconds, which sometimes required using objects to help people remain very still during the photographic exposure. If true for this image, it would clearly  date the photo to well before the beginning of the 20th century, possibly more than two decades earlier.

In addition to all that, the men in Ptp have pistol holsters, which in itself makes it highly likely that the original photo was shot AFTER the Civil War.

That photographic evidence for Ptp being pre-20th-century fits perfectly well with the rectangular belt buckles on those men who wore those uniforms of common soldiers.

For more evidence that the original photograph included a real modern pterosaur before the 20th century, see my other publications and videos.

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Pterodactyl Photo in a Youtube Video

On the right . . . is the Ptp image, and this shows a number of signs that the original was a true old photo that includes a real modern pterosaur.

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Why believe in ropens or modern pterodactyls

Why are some skeptics so insistent that somebody must force them to believe in non-extinct pterosaurs before they will believe? The following is part of a comment made under a Youtube video on my channel Protect Animal Life, and it’s from a young man who used to live in Florida . . .

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Press Releases About Non-Extinct Pterodactyls

A nonfiction-cryptozoology author has analyzed reports of non-extinct pterosaurs, commonly called “pterodactyls” or “flying dinosaurs,” and found how sightings relate to thirty-three states (and Washington D.C.) of the United States.

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Scientific Paper on Modern Pterosaurs

The Abstract refers to standard models of evolution regarding asserted extinctions of all species of dinosaurs and pterosaurs. It also refers to the Flood of Genesis and to the young-earth view that allows for the possibility that some of the pterosaurs survived extinction.

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When to Report a Pterodactyl Sighting

. . . if you or someone you know has seen a living pterodactyl, report it NOW, and use the following page for more information . . .

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Pterodactyl in a photo

What would we expect if a large animal had been shot dead by Civil War soldiers? Would the creature likely have fallen to the ground in a perfect location to be photographed: perfectly visible in a clearing? No, it would probably fall dead in a poor location. When the photographer arrived, however, he would ask the soldiers to drag the carcass into a nearby clearing, out from under the bushes or other hindrances to photography. Would not the dragging leave a mark on the ground? Quite possibly, if not quite likely. [The Ptp image has a drag mark, suggesting the apparent pterosaur may very well have been a genuine featherless flying creature.]

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Pterodactyl Sightings and Human Cultures

Over the past 17 years, I’ve received direct eyewitness reports of apparent living pterosaurs from hundreds of ordinary persons who have seen extraordinary flying creatures, and these persons come from five continents.

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Pterodactyl Press Releases

modern pterodactyl sketch by eyewitness Sandra Paradise
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By Jonathan Whitcomb

Over the past two decades, many online press releases have been published about modern pterodactyls, and some of them are about encounters with large featherless flying creatures in the United States. The following are but three of those news releases:

Strange Flying Creatures Reported in Utah (and Other States)

A nonfiction-cryptozoology author has analyzed eyewitness accounts of apparent non-extinct pterosaurs, commonly called “pterodactyls” or “flying dinosaurs,” and found that several states in the USA stand out, including Utah. Jonathan Whitcomb, of Murray, Utah, has been receiving emails since 2004, from five continents, and most of those reported sightings, in recent years, have been in North America.

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Murray, Utah, Resident Seeks Eyewitnesses

American veterans are the focus of an investigation by a nonfiction author living in Murray, Utah. Jonathan Whitcomb . . . writes about an animal not yet openly acknowledged by most Western scientists.

It seems to be a nocturnal flying creature reported by World War II veterans who fought in the Pacific. Unlike the fruit bats that are common in Papua New Guinea and Australia, this animal has a long tail and has been described by some eyewitnesses as much larger.

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modern pterodactyl sketch by eyewitness Sandra Paradise

Live Pterosaur in Georgia?

Reports of living “pterodactyls” in Georgia, during the past seven years, probably relate to sightings of some flying creatures in South Carolina and Florida, according to author Jonathan Whitcomb, of California.

He compiled statistics, late in 2012, from sighting reports he received over the past nine years, including accounts from eyewitnesses from Georgia. Whitcomb believes those flying creatures in the southeastern United States are related to the “Gitmo Pterosaur” of Cuba, a large featherless winged animal, not yet classified in Western biology.

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Press Releases About Non-Extinct Pterodactyls

Over the past eighteen years, many press releases have been published about encounters that people have have with apparent living pterosaurs.

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Big Flying Creature in Utah

A newspaper article was published in Salt Lake City, about a century ago, reporting a huge flying creature described as half-bird and half-reptile.

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New view on the “fiery flying serpent”

. . . why label any snake with “flying?” So many better descriptions come to mind for an animal that might ambush, surprise, or terrorize its victims from the ground. . . .

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Bible Supported by a new Nonfiction Book

The “fiery flying serpent” of the Old Testament still flies, according to the fourth edition of a nonfiction book by Jonathan Whitcomb. [or at least a flying creature related to the species mentioned in the Bible]

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Marfa Lights to Monstrous Heights

My recent press release (Unmasking a Flying Predator in Texas), to promote my new book (second edition, that is) Live Pterosaurs in America, received indirect attention from the Houston Chronicle, the largest-daily-circulation newspaper in Texas.

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Why Believe in the Ropen or Modern “Pterodactyls”

Why are some skeptics so insistent that somebody must force them to believe in non-extinct pterosaurs before they will believe? The following is part of a comment made under a Youtube video on my channel Protect Animal Life, and it’s from a young man who used to live in Florida . . .

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Living Pterosaurs in Newspapers

On occasion over the past 16 years, a critic might say something like, “If pterosaur are still living, why do we not see newspaper articles on them?” Such a skeptic may assume that he or she would have heard or read about such a newspaper article if it existed. In reality, no critic of living-pterosaur investigations reads every headline of every newspaper . . .

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Youtube Videos About Pterodactyl Sightings

two similar sketches of the ropen head
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By Jonathan Whitcomb

The following videos, on the Youtube channel “Protect Animal Life”, are some of the more recent ones on eyewitness reports on these flying creatures, many of which live in North America:

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New Pterodactyl Sighting Report From Colorado (girl on horseback)

The huge flying creature flew by them, close to the ground, fortunately seeming to ignore the horse and rider; perhaps it was hunting different prey (after all, some humans on horseback have guns but wild animals on the plains and domestic cattle can be safer prey for an apparent modern pterodactyl).

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Pterodactyl Sightings NOT Birds Misidentified

Can someone see a common bird and think it was a pterodactyl? Yes, and that does happen but not as often as some critics proclaim or insinuate. Comparatively few living-pterosaur reports come from a misidentification of a feathered bird. That becomes more obvious when we consider biologists who declare that they have seen live pterosaurs.

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Ropens – Long Tail – Pterodactyl in Ohio

Modern-pterosaur researchers and searchers are hoping for more eyewitness testimonies of live pterodactyls, so what is to be done? Some eyewitnesses of these flying creatures keep searching the sky for a second encounter, and sometimes it pays off.

It certainly did for a biologist in Ohio, who had a second sighting of a non-extinct pterosaur. This time his wife was with him. With both encounters, this biologist was sure that what they encountered was not any kind of bird but a living pterosaur, what many persons would call a “pterodactyl”.

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Pterodactyls in North Carolina – ROPEN sightings

Flying dinosaurs in the capital city of North Carolina? ALIVE!? Yes, and many persons in Raleigh have seen these large flying creatures, including the eyewitness Cynthia Lee, a veterinary technician. Now we have video evidence from the cell phone of this young lady.

Cynthia Lee had just gotten onto the city bus in Raleigh, North Carolina, when she began videotaping two apparent pterodactyls with her cell phone. Unfortunately, the two flying creatures were going in the opposite direction from which the bus was, making it almost impossible to get any reasonable video footage of the two apparent ropens.

Still, in 2021, this footage was stabilized and magnified, giving us a glimpse of these fascinating flying creatures.

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New Youtube Videos on Living Pterosaurs

In the first four weeks of March, 2020, I uploaded to Youtube five videos about modern pterosaurs (a.k..a. “pterodactyls”) . . .

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Ropen or Pterodactyl Sightings in Videos

The following are just a few of the hundreds of Youtube videos, on the channel “Protect Animal Life”, about modern living pterosaurs . . .

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The ropen, a living pterosaur

[in the words of Jonathan Whitcomb] Of all the sighting reports, of apparent living pterosaurs, that I have received since the year 2003, the great majority have been from the eyewitnesses themselves. Most of those reports have been emails from the persons who encountered those flying creatures and found me from my online publications. A significant minority of those persons I have been able to interview face to face and others through phone conversations.

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Ropen Sighting in Ohio in Late 2016

Last month I got an email from a man who lives in Gahanna, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. He and his teenaged son were driving near their home at 6:45 p.m. on December 19, 2016, when a large creature flew over their car, giving them a quick but close view. It had a wingspan greater than the width of their car.

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Living Pterosaur

For generations, Americans and other people in Western nations have been indoctrinated into believing that all species of certain basic types of living things became extinct millions of years ago, the two most notable types being dinosaurs and pterosaurs.

This idea of universal extinction for those two types has become so taken for granted that any person insinuating that one of their species might still be alive may be taken as either insane or as a fanatic deserving no attention.

For generations, however, in various areas of the planet, eyewitnesses have reported living pterosaurs . . .

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Pterodactyl Videos on Youtube

The eyewitness said, “I was horseback riding when suddenly my horse stopped dead in her tracks then began to tremble violently . . . I saw it. This thing was huge . . .  [sighting in the state of Colorado]

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Why Believe in the Ropen or Modern “Pterodactyls”

sketch of two flying pterosaurs - "In reality, not all species are extinct."
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By Jonathan Whitcomb

Why are some skeptics so insistent that somebody must force them to believe in non-extinct pterosaurs before they will believe? The following is part of a comment made under a Youtube video on my channel Protect Animal Life, and it’s from a young man who used to live in Florida:

Several years after moving to a northern state (during a family get-together) I met a man, and we engaged in conversation. One of the topics included outdoor activities, of which I related my frequent encounters with alligators and how I would attempt (sometimes successfully) to feed leftover food to the “small” (3-4′) who would come into my yard periodically (my property bordered a grown in waterway.)

Well, he practically called me a liar. As it turned out, this man has never visited any southern state nor took any opportunity to leave the boundaries of his home state. To him, what I related regarding my experience was a fantastically fictitious story, and he vocalized this to his chagrin, as several family members and a few guests (who were listening to said conversation) who were fortunate enough to have either lived “down south” or vacationed there (including Florida) collaborated my story, especially with the alligators intruding into “backyards”.

This to me highlights the limited mindset of people when told something outside the scope of their experience, for example ropen. I believe the ropen exist without seeing one, as a substantial amount of creditable people worldwide have experienced and importantly reported the sighting of them.

Thank you for all your painstakingly investigative research and your most valuable time in sharing and enlightening us & those who seek the truths of our world.

Reply from Jonathan Whitcomb (under that Youtube video)

Thank you so much, Nix! How relevant! It reminds me of a desert nomad with much experience moving around a huge desert but with no experience with any whale. Such a person might disbelieve in whales. On top of that, such a nomad might also disbelieve in the possibility of an ocean.

Why we Believe

Eyewitnesses from around the world report large featherless flying creatures, and their descriptions contain significant similarities in details. Keep in mind that those eyewitnesses come from a variety of backgrounds, cultures, languages, and educational experiences. How could those countless hundreds of sightings have been from hoaxes or hallucinations or misidentifications when the persons who saw the similar apparent pterosaurs are so different from one person to another?

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Modern-Pterosaur News – July of 2021

. . . relates to the formation of a nonprofit organization that will specialize in research into reports of non-extinct modern pterosaurs, including the long-tailed featherless ropen . . .

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Pterodactyl Sightings – 170+ Videos by mid-2021

This is a Youtube channel trailer video for “Protect Animal Life”, with brief excerpts from seven living-pterosaur videos, out of about 170 total videos on this channel, almost all of which relate to pterodactyl sightings . . .

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Short Mini-Documentaries on Modern Pterosaurs

A playlist of many videos on these astonishing featherless flying creatures, videos on the Youtube channel “Protect Animal Life”.

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New Youtube Video: “Pterodactyl” Sighting in California

The video is titled “A confession about a pterodactyl” and gives my account of an ironic twist in my life: from a severe skeptic to a firm believer in modern pterosaurs.

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Ropen

Duane Hodginson’s description of the giant “pterodactyl” heand his buddy saw in 1944 demonstrates to recent researchersthat the two soldiers had seen a ropen.

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New Youtube Videos on Living Pterosaurs

moon over a mountain lake at night
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By cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb

In the first four weeks of March, 2020, I uploaded to Youtube five videos about modern pterosaurs (a.k..a. “pterodactyls”), and three videos about COVID-19. Let’s take a brief glance at the five videos on featherless flying creatures.

Live Pterodactyl

[uploaded to Youtube on March 4, 2020]

artistic illustration of a long-tailed pterosaur

From the Youtube video “Live Pterodactyl”

From the narrator of this video, Jonathan Whitcomb:

Here is a portion of the voice-over:

What marvelous flying creatures were pterosaurs! . . . consider the great number of types of animal life we have, at present, on the earth.

. . . There’s nothing physical to make us believe all their species [of pterosaurs] are extinct, but the idea of their complete extinction lies in our culture.

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Pterodactyl Shock

Here’s the first part of the Description for this video:

This is no joke. I, Jonathan Whitcomb, began investigating eyewitness reports of apparent living pterosaurs in 2003. One year later, I led a brief expedition in Papua New Guinea, as our team searched for the nocturnal ropen of Umboi Island.

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Pterodactyl Facts

This is a music video about modern pterosaurs.

moon over a mountain lake at night

The following are text segments:

Pterodactyls fly mostly at night. They live in many areas of the world. Jonathan Whitcomb has received many eyewitness reports, and they’re from five continents. The eyewitnesses are of many cultures, many beliefs, and many backgrounds.

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I saw a Pterodactyl

Here’s the first paragraph of the Description section for this video:

These eyewitnesses are just a sampling of the countless persons who have seen the astonishing flying creatures reported flying around the world. What previous video shows photos of so many eyewitnesses?

Photos of three eyewitnesses of living pterosaurs

This has many photos of some of the eyewitnesses

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Flying Dinosaur size Comparison (uploaded to YT March 28, 2020)

This is another Youtube video on these amazing featherless flying creatures (the YT channel is Protect Animal Life), this one showing a few sightings from the smallest animal to a couple of the larger ones. This is just a very small sampling from the reports in which eyewitnesses estimated wingspan.

 

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Live Pterodactyl in Kansas

On February 21, 2020, I found a long comment under my Youtube video “Pterodactyl in a Jungle”, a detailed sighting report of a huge ropen seen in about the year 1994 in Garden City, Kansas.

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Pterodactyl Sighting in California

This has a different format than the other videos that I uploaded to my Youtube channel Protect Animal Life, although it’s a common style on Youtube. I sit on my living room couch and talk to the camera.

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A Short Explanation for Typical Sizes of Modern Pterosaurs

Here’s a comment from a Youtube video on my channel Protect Animal Life:

“Hey Mr Whitcomb! Great video! I think all of these eyewitnesses’ sightings tell us a thing about the wingspan of pterosaurs . . .”

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Modern Pterosaur Quiz in a Video

A short test for you to take on Youtube

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Videos on Living Pterosaurs

This is about new mini-documentaries I’ve recently uploaded to Youtube on my channel Protect Animal Life. Although many of the sighting reports of apparent modern pterosaurs suggest the nocturnal long-tailed ropen, none of the short videos, at least as of June 1, 2019, has the word ‘ropen’ in the title. [This changed between that date and March of 2020.]

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10 Most Shocking Facts – Youtube Video

Lady holds her hands onto her mouth in shock - with sketch of a modern pterosaur
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By the cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb

I uploaded the following video to Youtube on November 8, 2019: “Shocking Pterodactyl Facts – Top 10”. You can watch it now:

 

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Video versus other online resources

I don’t mean to imply that people should rely mainly on Youtube videos for information about living pterosaurs. You’ll learn much more from reading one or more of my nonfiction books on these amazing flying creatures. I also recommend online press releases about modern pterosaurs or one or more of the scientific papers that my associates and I have written.

Yet videos are a quick and easy way to learn some basic facts and I also offer the above video as a resource for those seeking the truth about discoveries in this narrow branch of cryptozoology.

Brief Summary of the Shocking Facts in This Video

Beginning with the least shocking:

#10: Three fears are common in Western cultures: not just fear of the animals themselves but fear of what others may think and fear about the possibility of personal temporary insanity or at least a problem with vision.

#9: Reports of living pterosaurs in the southwest Pacific are NOT from misidentifying fruit bats or frigate birds.

#8: Not all biologists . . . believe that all pterosaurs are extinct. In fact, biologist Peter Beach has searched for modern pterosaurs.

#7: Some modern pterosaurs have intrinsic bioluminescence.

#6: Most of them have long tails and appear to be descendants of Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs.

#5: A significant minority of these flying creatures are HUGE.

#4: Hoaxes have been eliminated for the overall reports.

#3: Three scientific papers have been written about the possibility that not all species of pterosaurs are extinct.

#2: These flying creatures are not confined to Papua New Guinea. They’ve been seen in many areas of the world.

#1: Of all the Americans now living, about 150,000 of them have had, at some time in their lives, a clear sighting of a living pterosaur.

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Lady holds her hands onto her mouth in shock - with sketch of a modern pterosaur

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Top Ten – Most Shocking – modern pterosaurs

Fact #8: Not all paleontologists or biologists believe that it’s impossible for a species of pterosaur to still be alive. In fact, one biologist has searched for living pterosaurs in both North America and in Papua New Guinea: Peter Beach.

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Video footage of a living pterosaur

A biologist (Peter Beach) and his fellow American explorer (Milt Marcy) observed an apparent living pterosaur in a jungle on New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea, in the year 2015, and Professor Beach was able to videotape the flying creature, although the resulting footage was at a distance and zoomed out, because of difficult recording circumstances of the moment.

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Press release on living pterosaurs

Pterosaurs, commonly called “pterodactyls,” live in various parts of the world, according to Jonathan Whitcomb . . . By the end of 2012, he had compiled statistics on the more credible sightings, including details that, after examination, make hoaxes an unsatisfactory explanation for the reports overall.

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Youtube video channel Protect Animal Life

As of November 19, 2019, this channel has 33 videos, each of which is positive about the possibility that not all species of pterosaur are extinct.

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Resources: press releases on living pterosaurs

  • Strange flying creatures in Utah
  • Pterodactyl reported in Papua New Guinea
  • Flying dinosaurs – strange flying creatures
  • Pterodactyls in mid-20th century Cuba

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