Griffith Park and Sordes Pilosus

The Sordes pilosus has been tied to both sightings, in 2013, near Griffith Park: March 3rd and May 13th. The more striking survey results were from the first sighting, near the Colorado Street bridge for the Interstate-5, and just a little southeast of the Los Angeles Zoo. From the thirty-five silhouette images of pterosaurs, birds, and bats, the anonymous eyewitness chose only one: the Sordes pilosus. She did mention that the head was larger than what she saw in the silhouette image.

That March 3rd sighting was also noteworthy for the number of flying creatures: three. Only about 1% of sightings involve more than two apparent pterosaurs, according to the data I compiled late in 2012. Also noteworthy for this sighting is the clarity of the tail observation. The eyewitness clear about those long thin tails that ended with a structure that I associate with the Rhamphorhynchoid tail flange. From the data compiled late in 2012, 28.5% of all the sighting include reference to that tail structure.

The second sighting, on May 13th, was by Devin Rhodriquez, about 1.5 miles south of the first one. In this case, the eyewitness was so focused on the head that she did not notice the presence or absence of a tail on the flying creature. She was sure about the absence of feathers, but was open-minded in questioning the possibility that she had observed a . Rhodriquez was given the same survey form as the first eyewitness; she chose six images:Sordes pilosus, Campylognathoides, , Peteinosaurus, , and .

. Pterosaur Sightings East of Griffith Park, CA

In two separate sightings, two eyewitnesses in Los Angeles, California, reported flying creatures described like pterosaurs. The sightings were a little over a mile apart, both from drivers on the northbound Interstate-5 Freeway, just east of Griffith Park, near Glendale.

Griffith Park Pterosaurs and Perching

The creatures reported east of Griffith Park were soaring or gliding, not perching, and the pterosaur reported to have been perching on a telephone cable in Lakewood, California, in 2012, had a Rhamphorhynchoid-like tail, suggesting a flying creature like those that left of pterosaurs that could perch, according to at least some paleontology sources.

Pterosaurs or Ropens in Griffith Park

The first sighting was of three “dragons” that were gliding south over the I-5 freeway, a little southeast of the Los Angeles Zoo, close to the Colorado Street bridge, at about 6:10 a.m., on March 3, 2013, parallel to the Los Angeles River.

. Live Pterosaurs in America, third edition, nonfiction

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From Chapter Two of the book (California Sightings):

In the summer of 1891, southeast of Fresno, several eyewitnesses reported two featherless flying creatures with wingspans of fifteen feet. . . . residents around Reedley described the two “dragons” for the newspaper: broad heads, long bills, and large eyes. “On the night of July 11 . . . their peculiar cries and the rustling of their mammoth wings were heard as late as 10 o’clock.” Two nights later, the “monsters” were held responsible for attacking chickens, with “many of the hens being bitten in two and left partly devoured.” On the following week, a carriage of picnickers saw the creatures “plainly circling in the air.” Two days later, two men saw them fly up from under a bridge, passing close enough that the men felt the wind from the flapping. Griffith Park Pterosaurs and Perching

A cryptozoologist, here unnamed, has objected to the pterosaur interpretation of sightings east of Griffith Park in 2013. He said, “The creature which is reported as a pterosaur perches upright, which no kind of a pterosaur could do.” The statement was apparently based only on his reading a small part of what was reported on these two sightings and on how it probably relates to a 2012 sighting elsewhere in Los Angeles County. The creatures reported east of Griffith Park were soaring or gliding, not perching, and the pterosaur reported to have been perching on a telephone cable in Lakewood, California, in 2012, had a Rhamphorhynchoid-like tail, suggesting a flying creature like those that left fossils of pterosaurs that could perch, according to at least some paleontology sources.

Pterosaur Feet

Perhaps many species of pterosaurs could not perch on a branch like many birds now can; but the skeptic said that “no kind of pterosaur could” perch, and that’s another forest altogether. Before getting into details about pterosaurs on branches, consider what Dr. Peter Wellnhofer wrote about pterosaur feet in his book The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs:

The foot of the pterosaur was generally narrow and long. Rhamphorhynchoidea differ from in having a long fifth digit, which is flexed and has no claw.

. Foot of (The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs)

Wellnhofer illustrates the curved fifth toe of a long-tailed pterosaur, but without explaining the function of that curve, at least not on page 56 of his book. David Peters, another expert, does explain how this toe can help pterosaurs perch on a tree branch.

Pterosaur Perching

The old opinion about pterosaurs perching on tree branches was that it could not be done; that old idea now seems to have been shot down. David Peters has shown that in “basal” pterosaurs the fifth toe could act like a universal wrench, becoming the opposing digit that makes it possible for that kind of pterosaur to perch, in a general way like birds sit on tree branches.

. Perching Pterosaur in Lakewood, CA, in 2012

Interesting to note, the kind of pterosaur observed by an eyewitness in Lakewood, California, on June 19, 2012, was the same general type as the one that David Peters mentioned as being capable of perching something birds do, and that non- extinct Rhamphorhynchoid seen in clear daylight, from less than twenty-five feet away, was perched on a telephone cable.

The tail was described as at least four feet long and the eyewitness said, “He had that triangle on his tail, like a dragon.” She was sure that the flying creature had no feathers.

Pterosaurs Flying Near Griffith Park in 2013

The two sightings of 2013, over the I-5 Freeway next to the Los Angeles River, just east of Griffith Park—both were in daylight, witnesses by drivers in the northbound lanes. They were about 1.5 miles apart and separated by ten weeks.

Although none of the four flying creatures observed in those two sightings were seen to perch, the first encounter involved three “dragons” that had long tails ending in “triangular points.” The eyewitness described the tails as “long and thin with a bigger point at the tip.” That witness was shown many silhouette images of bats, birds, and pterosaurs, and she chose the Sordes pilosus, a Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur.

. Locations of the two pterosaur sightings just east of Griffith Park, in 2013

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Pterosaurs Perching in Trees

Peters (2002, 2010) described how pedal digit 5 in basal pterosaurs acted like a universal wrench, extending while digits 1-4 flexed around a branch of any diameter (Fig. 1), thereby opposing the flexing digits . . .

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Dragons Around Griffith Park in Los Angeles

I’ve received many emails, over the past nine years, regarding apparent pterosaurs in Southern California. This deserves a brief overview, before we consider those sightings that surround that huge city park: Griffith Park in Los Angeles. But let’s confine ourselves to just a few sightings in Southern California.

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Live Pterosaurs in Australia and in Papua New Guinea (FREE digital book)

From the Preface to this book: I believe in living pterosaurs and hope they will soon be officially discovered. More important, I believe in you, that you can soar above dogmatic assumptions about extinctions. I hope that you already understand that we are more than a by- product of culture: Our existence transcends the boundaries of the human cultural assumptions that have shaped our beliefs.

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