Living-Pterosaur

Email Newsletters

 

Archives

 

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