I have watched many science documentaries. How often does a documentary proclaim the extinction of dinosaurs “65 million years ago,” as if datings were from a verifiable measurement or extinctions were from a verifiable observation! Dinosaurs were not a species. “Dinosaur” is a general word for countless species; likewise for “pterosaur.” Who can dispute the idea that there were dinosaur and pterosaur species for which we have not yet discovered fossils? Perhaps nobody disputes that idea. Yet how rarely is the consequence acknowledged by any scientist! The point is this: There is a world of difference between extinction and near-extinction. It is the difference between death and life.
Consider this obvious conclusion: Fossils, at best, can give us only a limited understanding of what species have lived in the past. I don’t belittle what paleontologists can learn about particular organisms that left fossils; but the subject is extinction, and nothing, absolutely nothing, in all the fossils (in all the laboratories, universities, and museums of the world) can give us any sure knowledge about the extinction of even one species. Since fossils cannot prove even one species extinct, what about the many species of dinosaurs and pterosaurs?
How did we come to believe that they are extinct? I don’t dispute the general concept of dinosaur and pterosaur extinction, for the many species for which we have fossils does suggest those wonderful creatures were once common. But I dispute the dogmatic indoctrination of universal extinctions of general categories, in particular “dinosaur” and “pterosaur.” Why should we believe that all those species are forever gone? Simple it is. We rarely hear or read about human encounters with dinosaurs and pterosaurs. Why? It’s not that nobody ever encounters a dinosaur or a pterosaur. In some remote areas of the earth, people are not astonished by the encounters (although they are often scared by them), for the existence of certain rare creatures is common knowledge. The problem lies in Western society, for we have been indoctrinated into the belief in universal extinctions, so any report of a living dinosaur or pterosaur is met with skepticsm.
It is actually more complicated, however. The rarity of some species (especially nocturnal, seclusive, or remote ones) has made observations rare. But a critical cause has been a combination of partial extinctions and near-extinctions, which has mimicked universal extinction. Many species of dinosaurs and pterosaurs have surely become extinct at some time in the past; those still living are mostly either rare, nocturnal, seclusive, or remote (or some combination). Whether one believes in worldwide destruction 65 million years ago or a few thousand years ago (Noah’s Flood), the possibility of near-extinction, as opposed to absolute extinction, of a species must be taken into account.
My specialty is eyewitness reports of apparent living pterosaurs, so let’s push aside the dinosaurs. Fossils cannot give us any indication of extinction, but eyewitnesses can give us testimony evidence of life. The many testimonies, from the mid-twentieth century into the early twenty-first century in particular, suggest apparent Rhamphorhynchoids may be more common than apparent Pterodactyloids. I suggest considering individual eyewitness accounts, comparing them with other accounts of apparent pterosaurs. I have done this for years, and it has been rewarding, thrilling beyond words. I invite you to learn more about these accounts of what are described as wonderful creatures (though sometimes frightening) that live and fly in the present.
South Carolina flying creature (long-tailed pterosaur)
Cryptozoology Book (nonfiction) about pterosaurs living in North America
Pterosaur Extinction or non-extinction