It was in 1892 (I believe) that a couple of fellows shot themselves a Thunderbird (at least, that's the story that appeared in the Tombstone (Arizona) Epitaph (well, what else would you call a newspaper if you lived in a town named Tombstone?) about the guys who shot themselves one.
"Great shot, thar, Ringo!"
"Thanks, Panhandle Jim."
And I think it's time we try to move closer to our own time. But before we do let's pause and think about the description of the creature that paper says was shot: "The beast had the body of a serpent, immense wings, two clawed feet and the face of an alligator and the wingspan of the creature was said to have been 160 feet and the body was more than 92 feet long. It was smooth and featherless, more like a bat than a bird."
They're describing a pterosaur, aren't they?
Now we pause to ask ourselves COULD a creature thought to be extinct have survived into relatively modern (and possibly even to MODERN) times?
And the answer is "Yes, of course!" We have seen it happen. Frilled Sharks, Coelacanths---a whole HOST of creatures that have been declared "extinct" have been found alive. But a flying dinosaur? Wouldn't someone notice?
Maybe someone has. Let's hop into our time machine here and go find out:
"LONG BEACH, CA, August 19, 2009 /Science and Research PR News/ -- Jonathan Whitcomb, author of the nonfiction book "Live Pterosaurs in America," interviewed, from 2005 to 2009, eyewitnesses from 19 states: California, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Washington State. The sightings themselves were from 1980 through 2008.
Some eyewitnesses label what they saw "pterodactyl," the layman's word for "pterosaur." Many descriptions included "long tails" and lack of feathers. Wingspan estimates showed a statistical peak at 8-10 feet, but 27% of the estimates were over 18 feet: too big to be birds.
Many scientists assume that pterosaurs, like dinosaurs, became extinct by 65 million years ago. But a few cryptozoologists specialize in reports of sightings of pterosaur-like animals. They believe that many recent reports of apparent living pterosaurs in North America cannot be easily dismissed. According to Whitcomb, a substantial number are not from hoaxes, insanity, or misidentifications; they are most likely living pterosaurs."
So what are we to make of THIS?