Tracking Pterodactyls
From an Orange County Weekly blog post:
Author Tracks Pterodactyls Among Us
“Jonathan Whitcomb is actually based in Long Beach, where as a cryptozoology author he offers an explanation of the mystery lights of Marfa, Texas, and Papua New Guinea. Human inhabitants in both places have observed in the sky balls of light that seem to split into two, fly away from each other and then turn around and fly back together.
“Such sights have produced legends about dancing devils or ghosts and scientific explanations involving lightning or earthlights. Whitcomb has a far different explanation: bioluminescent predators flying together until they notice an increased presence of insects.
“The pterodactyls–which are actually known as pterosaurs–then split up because their meal of choice–big brown bats–feed on insects. When the brown bats, known as Eptesicus fuscus, start feeding on the insects, the pterosaurses bear down on the bats from opposite sides. With tummies full, they return to flying together again.
“Hey, it’s a theory, one that Whitcomb is sticking to based on eyewitness accounts from the American Southwest and the southwest Pacific. He’s even written a book about it, Live Pterosaurs in America . . .”
