From the Book “Live Pterosaurs in America” When I began investigating living-pterosaur reports, a common explanation was “fruit bats,” not that Hodgkinson’s description of a tail “at least 10-15 feet long” could suggest any flying fox bat; but critics habitually ignore details, conveniently generalizing. The critics who’ve tried to dismiss the reports with “flying fox” take only one perspective: that of Western visitors to Papua New Guinea who can be shocked at those bats; natives living with fruit bats, however, also see giant long-tailed flying creatures. So why ignore all reports of apparent Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs? Mind you, that bat conjecture is only theoretical: I’ve encountered no eyewitness who described a fruit bat while calling it a pterosaur, and I have encountered many eyewitnesses, many indeed. But the bat explanation sounds reasonable to specifically-ignorant Westerners who’ve personally encountered neither an apparent pterosaur nor an eyewitness of one. . . . A few years ago, at an undisclosed location, several investigators saw many bats flying where flying lights were common. The bats appeared more numerous than the flying lights, and the cryptozoologists were sure of at least two kinds of nocturnal fliers. Since the lights are seen throughout the year, by the local land owner, I pondered why ropen-like creatures would be flashing so regularly. Catching-bats jumped out at me, far ahead of a mating-ritual explanation; my associates, however, ahead of me, had already thought of that possibility: pterosaurs eating bats. [by Jonathan Whitcomb, author of the nonfiction cryptozoology book Live Pterosaurs in America] Fruit Bat Flying Fox He knows where it’s at: The fruit in a tree “The Flying Fox bat” Known affectionately As that © Jonathan David Whitcomb 2011 Marfa Lights