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by Jonathan Whitcomb |
Living Pterosaurs newsletter 002
March 26, 2007
Basics of the March-2007 expedition
To living-pterosaur investigators and to those interested:
A few days ago, Paul Nation returned to the U.S. after another expedition to the mainland of Papua New Guinea. My preliminary conclusion is that one of the most significant insights from this latest excursion relates to last November's expedition, in particular this:
The distant white glow to the east, seen early in the morning of the Sunday that Paul was in the "High Garden" observation area, was actually the light from car headlights. The automobile was about 20 miles away. Paul felt uneasy about that brilliant white glow. On returning in March, his doubts were confirmed with a more powerful pair of binoculars. Paul also flew over the area and verified the car's presence.
All the other sightings in the November, 2006, expedition were genuine indava (ropen) lights. Cliff Paiva's preliminary report to me (before the formal completed report) included the finding that the center of the two light sources was less brilliant than immediately surrounding the center. This is unlike what we would expect from headlights or other similar electric light sources. It is also unlike light from lanterns: I have solid confidence that these two videotaped lights are ropen-lights.
In addition, there are no roads or cars on Mount Hamya, where a number of indavas were seen. There were also no roads or cars on the ridge where the two lights were videotaped.
The good news is that this mistaken identity was caught by one of the investigators, not by one of the skeptics. The bad news is that the indavas on Mount Hamya in November did not stay through till March. The villagers say that they live in trees. It seems that they do not stay in one place for very long, perhaps. This is unfortunate for our investigations, in that it will be more difficult to find them. On the other hand, it's good to have this additional knowledge. We really need a major expedition, in my opinion: several experts over many weeks with all the needed resources.
Paul Nation has gone beyond the call of duty in his expeditions. This time he suffered a bad staph infection, unfortunately just beginning to get worse as he began the 25-hour trip back to the U.S.: He had to go to an emergency room on his arrival. He's recovering and we hope and pray that he will be in good health again within the two weeks expected by the doctors.
As to the brilliant white light to the distant east of the Tawa Village area, I hope that all references on web pages (or elsewhere) will be removed or be corrected. But all the other sightings from the November 2006 expedition we believe to be indava creatures: similar or the same kind as ropens.
Jonathan Whitcomb |