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Marine Observes Two Pterosaurs

Kuhn pterosaurs
Sketch by Eskin C. Kuhn, 1971

While stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 1971, Eskin Kuhn saw, in daylight, two pterosaurs flying about 100 feet above the ground. They were close enough for Kuhn to notice details, and, being talented in realistic drawing, he soon sketched what he had observed. That sketch has been around for many years, but it deserves a closer look, for other eyewitnesses have seen a similar creature.

I spoke with Mr. Kuhn by phone, briefly, late in February of 2010. His manner of speech and substance of conversation convinced me that he had not played any hoax; he had honestly reported a pterosaur sighting. He soon wrote me a letter, part of which I now relate.

“It had a bony protuberance at the chest . . . and the neck was crooked (at what in a man would be the Adam’s apple). The head was disproportionately large with a long beak and long crest behind. The spine had clear vertebrae at the shoulder diminishing in size as it went lower. It had a kite-like wing structure where the bat-skin type of membrane was stretched over what appeared to be extensions of the hand. . .”

The head of the Kuhn pterosaur bears some resemblance to the pterosaur head drawn by an eyewitness of what I have labeled “Hammerhead Ropen” (seen in the Eastern United States in 2008). That eyewitness is also talented in realistic drawing, being a professional artist. Unfortunately, she has not yet given permission for her sketches to be published.

Another resource: Living Pterosaurs in Cuba