Historically, people have instinctively feared things they can't figure out and control. Therefore, those rumored hidden rare birds and beasts are always strangely shaped and fierce, which makes people avoid it.
Nowadays, with the development of network information technology, there is no "impermeable wall" in the world, and those mysterious creatures that were once little known have gradually entered the public's field of vision and become the hot talk of people on the Internet.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > mysterious animal in nature</h1>
There is always an endless stream of monster sightings around the world. Foreign countries have even set up a special mystical zoology to study those legendary exotic animals. The scientific community has estimated that there are about 100 million animal species in nature, and even 2 million species that have been unknown to humans have not yet been discovered.
Therefore, the existence of mystical zoology seems to be very necessary, and the most famous on the Internet is probably the "Top Ten Mysterious Creatures". For example, we are familiar with the Loch Ness Monster, the bipedal ungulate flying creature Jersey Demon, the unknown creature Mothman, the Mongolian Death Worm and so on.
There is no shortage of such rumors in China, and even some "water monkey" videos have been exposed, which has aroused a lot of attention and discussion, these mysterious creatures have been described at first, but in the end most of them are lack of substantive evidence, or simply rumors.
What's even more ironic is that some people will make a fuss about monsters synthesized by movie special effects. To play the masses who do not know the truth is actually to take advantage of the psychology that people like to "see the strange".
When it comes to mysterious, huge, and frightening animals, the most scientific basis is ancient creatures such as dinosaurs.
But we all know that dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years, and there is no possibility in history that dinosaurs will pose a threat to humans. No one has ever seen a real dinosaur, and the remaining dinosaur fossils are the only clues that humans can reach them.
But this world is so wonderful that someone can take a photo with this ancient creature that has long been extinct, and the photo is still widely circulated on the Internet. This prehistoric creature was a pterosaur that appeared in a set of photographs exposed by the American media and taken in the city of Vicksburg in 1864.
1864 was quite a bit of anachronism from now, when the United States was still in the midst of civil war, but this "flawless" photograph was clearly not disturbed by the war, and only ten men with shotguns were lined up in two rows, with the heads of pterosaurs raised in the middle. The surrounding ones pulled the huge wings of the pterosaur, showing a flying posture. Their expressions were dignified and calm, and they did not feel any fear. The posture of carrying the pterosaur is like a silent show off: look, this is the prey we have conquered!
As we all know, pterosaurs lived in the same era as dinosaurs, and were originally creatures that had been extinct for a long time. So how did it suddenly appear in the 19th century and be captured by American hunters?
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > the history of pterosaurs</h1>
Pterodactyls, also known as "pterosaurs" and "pterodactyls", were flying reptiles of the extinct pterosaur family or pterosaur order. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous period, between 228 million and 66 million years ago, and are the earliest known vertebrates to evolve flying wings.
65 million years ago, pterosaurs went extinct along with dinosaurs. Pterosaurs are often misunderstood by the mass media as a type of dinosaur known as the "flying dinosaur". In fact, pterosaurs are neither dinosaurs nor ancestors of birds, but flying reptile evolutionary branches.
Still, pterosaurs are more closely related to birds and other dinosaurs than any other reptile. The wings of pterosaurs are formed by a membrane of skin, muscle, and other tissues that extend from the ankle to the fingers. The epidermis is covered with hair-like filaments that cover part of their bodies and wings.
These may be homologous to feathers found in birds and some non-avian dinosaurs. It is suggested that early feathers evolved in the common ancestors of pterosaurs and dinosaurs for the purpose of keeping warm. Pterodactyls conquered the sky, and if vertebrates had thoughts, they might have idolized pterosaurs.
Pterosaurs are generally believed to inhabit aquatic lands and their main food source is fish. However, they have a variety of lifestyles, a wide range of habits, and will also prey on land creatures and insects.
In addition, pterosaurs were oviparous, and scientists have found some fossils of pterosaur eggs. There are two main species of pterosaurs , the base pterosaurs are small , with fully toothed jaws , and often long tails.
On the ground, they will have a clumsy crawling posture, but the joint structure and strong claws will make them effective climbers. The grassroots pterosaurs are predators of bugs and small vertebrates.
Later pterosaurs evolved in different sizes, shapes, and lifestyles. The suborder Pterodactyl beak had narrower wings and free hind limbs, a long neck and a large head, a shortened tail, beaks on the lower jaw, and some groups without teeth. On the ground, their limbs can walk well, stand upright, stand on their hind feet, and can also take off from the ground.
The pterosaur in the photo should belong to the toothless pterosaur, which is a sign of the peak of its species evolution. Toothless pterosaurs were large, with wingspans of up to seven meters. Its palate is long, similar to that of pelicans, with a ridge behind the skull that balances the long palate, which is not found in other pterosaur genera.
However, this pterosaur has long been extinct, and fossils are found in the Upper Cretaceous of Europe, Asia and North America. All features indicate that the photograph is of a toothless pterosaur
Did prehistoric creatures really appear in the United States? Are pterosaurs not as extinct as scientific definitions?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="26" > the cause of pterosaur extinction</h1>
How exactly did pterosaurs become extinct? This question is as controversial as the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs.
It is said that 65 million years ago, an asteroid with a diameter of 10 km hit the Earth's surface at high speed. Widespread earthquakes and tsunamis were triggered, and the climate became harsh. As a result, this led to the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period, and the pterosaurs were not spared.
There is also another theory that claims that competition from early birds led to the extinction of many pterosaurs. Whatever the cause of the pterosaur's extinction, paleontologists would firmly say that the pterosaur was extinct.
As for the reasons, first of all, we all know that today human beings can only study these ancient creatures through fossils. Since the mass extinction of species 6500 years ago, no fossil of a pterosaur has been found.
At the end of the Cretaceous period, mass extinction events wiped out all dinosaurs and most birds, and seem to have taken away pterosaurs as well. In early 2010, however, scientists discovered several new pterosaur taxa, dating back to the Campan order. Several banded dragons and uncertain small pterosaurs also appeared.
This suggests that the Pterodactyl fauna of the Late Cretaceous period was much larger than previously thought, and may not have even declined significantly compared to the Early Cretaceous. Small pterosaurs may not have suffered extinctions in the same way as large pterosaurs. With the sudden drop in global temperatures, large pterosaurs, as thermotropes, naturally could not survive, but the smaller pterosaurs may have a hint of life, and paleontologists speculate that pterosaurs may have survived up to the Late Cretaceous.
Did the appearance of bird ancestors accelerate the extinction of pterosaurs? Traditional theories agree with this view, but some scholars believe that the decline of pterosaurs seems to be unrelated to bird diversity, as the ecological overlap between the two groups is very small.
We can make a hypothesis here, if there were really pterosaurs who survived the mass extinction event, would it be possible that they would continue to survive until modern times? The answer, of course, is no.
Because of the long time span, the current earth environment is far from the ancient times, and it is no longer suitable for the survival of ancient creatures such as pterosaurs. For example, air concentration, modern air concentration is much thinner than 200 million years ago.
The mechanical principles of pterosaur flight have not yet been thoroughly studied, and Japanese scientists have calculated with modern birds comparing pterosaurs, and concluded that pterosaurs could not stay at high altitudes, and theoretically, they were able to fly due to the dense atmosphere rich in oxygen in ancient times.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="37" >how did pterosaurs take off? </h1>
Scientists speculate that those massive pterosaurs could only use their hind limbs to generate thrust. Mark Witton of the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom and Mike Habib of Johns Hopkins University believe that pterosaurs used a vaulting mechanism to achieve flight purposes, and the huge strength of their winged forelimbs allowed them to take off easily. Speeds can reach 120 kilometers per hour and travel thousands of kilometers.
But this claim has also raised doubts, the bones of the forelimbs of the pterosaurs are very slender, and for large pterosaurs, flapping the wings is likely to lead to fractures. Pterodactyls' pectoral muscles were not as developed as those of birds, but their skeletons were heavier. The thin air will make the flight difficulty of the pterodactyl, and it is more appropriate to glide than to fly. With the thin air today, the pterosaur simply could not hold out for long.
In addition, the significant reduction in oxygen content has also worsened the living conditions of pterosaurs. Studies have shown that the respiratory system of pterosaurs consists of a lung, air sac, and a breath pump, similar to the respiratory structure of birds. But their shoulder-thoracic parts are too inflexible to move their sternum like birds do.
Organisms will evolve to adapt to new environments, and in turn, species that cannot make appropriate changes will be eliminated and disappear into the long river of history.
Large ancient creatures like pterosaurs, which have not evolved into modern living environments, will never be able to adapt to them, because the flat land is as suffocating to them as a plateau. Throughout the laws of biological evolution after the Cretaceous Period, they all evolved towards smaller body size or larger chest cavity. The pterosaur in the photo is full of ancient species characteristics, and it is unlikely to live to the 19th century.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="43" > photo fraud has also attracted questions from Americans</h1>
Like the Hollywood blockbusters that have swept the world in the United States, Americans seem to like to be immersed in fantasy. In the reports of the American media, all kinds of supernatural mysterious phenomena will have a "special love" for the United States. For example, the United States frequently discovered UFOs and various reports about aliens.
Another example is these mysterious creatures, from time to time will be witnessed in the United States, take the pterosaur, after this photo exploded on the Internet, many foreign media found that the pterosaur far more than this image, although the location and character of these photos are different, they all belong to the American Civil War period, without exception are black and white. Behind these black-and-white photos is a colorful story.
In 1841, the paleontological community first discovered dinosaurs, which were confirmed and named by the British scholar Richard Owen. After 20 years, during the Civil War in 1861, due to the underdevelopment of information technology at that time, the public knew very little about dinosaurs.
It is said that the farmers or soldiers in the photo think that this is a strange bird flying in the sky, and no one knows that this is a once mighty pterosaur. A group photo of seven people is a good illustration of this, looking at the seven soldiers who have stepped on the captured small pterosaurs without the slightest panic or awe.
What's more exaggerated is that the protagonist in one photo turned out to be the largest of more than 100 pterosaur breeds. This is the well-deserved "sky overlord" of ancient times, and only the size of hatziko pterosaur can match it. An adult Aeolian pterosaur can reach a wingspan of up to 11 meters and weigh about 250 kilograms, and the visual measurement of the wingspan of an aeolian pterosaur in this photo is also more than 10 meters, which is simply unimaginable how the photographer conquered this prehistoric beast. These black-and-white photos have been circulating for a long time and look real and difficult to distinguish between true and false.
American zoologist Carl Schucker quickly noticed these unusually old photographs. As analyzed earlier, professionals know that it is fake when they look at the photo, although it looks realistic, but the pterosaur is indeed extinct, and many people who lack relevant knowledge will be easily "rhythmic", and if you want to convince them, you still have to start from the source of these photos.
After several twists and turns, Carl Shuck finally found the creator of the earliest exposed photo while rummaging through the materials. The photo of the farmer and the toothless pterosaur mentioned at the beginning of the article is actually an illustrated photo by a British artist.
The artist, Chris Smith, published the photo in the journal True West in 2015. This is not a real old photograph, but has been technically processed and synthesized.
The artist's style was magic realism, a style of literature or painting that only emerged and became popular in the 1950s. The creators incorporate magical elements while depicting realistic scenes, blurring the boundaries between fantasy and reality to express allegory.
This photo of Chris Smith's pterosaur is a combination of two different eras to create a visual effect of time and space confusion.
This old photo, which has been reported by the media and misunderstood by netizens, is actually a specially processed work of art. After being rumored, it spread, and perhaps the artist himself did not expect it.
The same is true of many other pterosaur photographs, none of which were taken in real time. Instead, it was made through a "darkroom technique" that changed the background and characters.
Nowadays, people may have a misunderstanding that it is impossible to fake old black-and-white photos. Because it was an era without PS, is that really the case? What is the so-called "darkroom technology"?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="57" > ancestor of modern PS: darkroom technology</h1>
Speaking of PS, you will not be unfamiliar with it, it is the abbreviation of image processing software Adobe Photoshop. To what extent PS is hot, many apps with image processing functions will now be collectively referred to as "P-graph software". Its powerful secondary processing function can repair the defects and imperfections of photos, making the image more beautiful and intuitive.
In addition, it can also combine unrelated picture things together to achieve the effect of confusing the visual and confusing the real thing. Although its function is complex, at the largest level, it is to modify digital photos through stamping, blurring, and keying.
In fact, darkroom technology can be described as the "originator" of PS.
In the past, these powerful retouching functions of today's PS have been realized through darkroom technology. Darkrooms are used to process photographic film, make copies, and do photo beautification work. It is a room that can be completely darkened, darker than the dark room where photos are taken.
Speaking of darkrooms, we can first briefly talk about the principle of photo development.
After the silver salt photo paper is laser exposed in the closed dark room, the silver on the photo paper is photosensitive, and the coloring agent in it will be revealed, and then the excess substance will be rinsed off with chemicals, so that a color image is formed. Ordinary darkroom development will use inconspicuous red light when taking photos, in order to reduce the exposure of film, although the quality of the photos developed is not the best, but it can be fully adapted to the needs of ordinary people.
But if you want to make some "modifications" to the photo, or to improve the fineness of the photo, you need to operate in a dark dark dark room, which usually has photographic materials ready to deal with light, including film and photo paper, and various equipment, such as enlargers, sinks filled with chemicals and tap water.
For example, if you want to correct the exposure of a negative photo that is overexposed, what should you do? Nowadays, on mobile phones or computers, we only need to select the exposure in the APP and then lower the value.
But in the darkroom, the steps are far from simple, first of all, the negative is stacked on the phenomenon paper, and then the exposure is taken, and the second exposure time is very short. Then rinsed with a lighter developer, a low-exposure replica is born.
For example, we want to clean up the small imperfections such as black dots on the film, and now the retouching APP has tools such as "eliminating the pen", but in the darkroom, it is necessary to use a brush to dip the pigment, modify the negatives, and then copy the printing twice, don't look at the steps are relatively troublesome, the effect is very amazing, can not find a trace of PS, and now the refined photos are almost the same.
Fake photos like the American Pterodactyl can also be achieved with darkroom technology, that is, put different materials in the same photo to prepare the film of different photos, crop and modify, and then superimpose to a copy and print, does it sound a little bit able to touch the doorway?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="69" > there are many "p-graphers" in history</h1>
It is worth mentioning that many of the famous photos we have seen before have been carefully processed by darkroom technology.
Ulysses Grant, the 18th president of the United States, had a classic photograph of a horseback riding when he was a general, but this photo was actually composed of three photos in a darkroom. Grant himself simply took a full-body photo, and then his head was "shifted" to the rider. The creators also carefully added a grassland background to the photo to make it more realistic and reasonable.
In addition, General Sherman of the North during the American Civil War was added to a real group photo, which looks like he actually took this photo together on the spot. This way of transferring flowers and elderly trees is the cutout in the modern PS terminology.
Keying can not only merge things together, but also eliminate unwanted elements, as does darkroom techniques. A famous example is the photograph of Soviet leader Stalin. His entourage always seemed to have bizarrely "disappeared" from the original photographs, for reasons not unrelated to the political background of the time.
A similar incident happened to former Canadian Prime Minister William Leon, who had a photo with King George VI and his daughter Elizabeth II. But through darkroom technology, George VI was ruthlessly "invited" out of the photograph.
George VI was not well received because his original family was incompetent, his own body was defective, he had suffered from stuttering since childhood, and he was not the heir to the English throne. However, his enviable good fortune coincided with the abdication of the maverick Edward VIII for the free marriage, and the position of King of England fell on his head.
However, the king changed his life against the sky and became a symbol of courage and perseverance in the eyes of the people, of course, this is all a later story. The Canadian prime minister used darkroom technology to achieve his goal, allowing his disliked king to "disappear". At the same time, make yourself look more prominent in your photos.
Even in the days without PS, old photos were still not 100% real, and retouching technology has existed for much longer than people know.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="78" > rumors that have been made in the United States</h1>
This is not the first time that the United States has been exposed to find traces of mysterious creatures, there are countless folklore in the United States, pterosaurs may not be able to rank on the number, and there have been rumors of "thunderbirds" that have caused an uproar on the Internet.
The rumored Thunderbird has nothing to do with the creature in reality. It is a giant bird that vibrates its wings to cause thunder and blinks its eyes to produce lightning
It is large enough to easily grab humans and use it as food for young chicks.
Thunderbirds sound godlike, and the key is that there are so-called "historical photos" to confirm it.
Many Americans are said to have seen a photograph in the book of a giant captured thunderbird nailed to a wall with a row of hunters standing in front of it. A nature researcher named Ivan Sanderson said that this is the legendary thunderbird, and he openly searched for this photo for the public, and many similar photos of the captured thunderbird appeared on the Internet for a while.
Soon, the original photograph was also found, and after a special investigation, it was found that the photo was actually fake, and the hunters in the front row only took a commemorative photo of family life in 1951. There were originally eight deer hanging behind it, but after technical treatment, they were replaced by huge "thunderbirds", and people could not find any evidence of the real existence of "thunderbirds".
What are the benefits of fabricating history and making fake photos? In fact, it is a thing that can win eyeballs, earn heat, and bring huge benefits.
Barnum's "Fiji Mermaid" incident was the use of fake animals for external exhibitions to defraud high entrance fees. In the 19th century, a businessman named George Hull took inspiration from the Bible and began to carry out his fraudulent schemes.
George Herrburn was an atheist, but he knew that taking advantage of the faith of believers could easily earn their money. So he wanted to create the giants of the Bible. Pouring sulfuric acid on a carefully carved giant figure and burying it in the soil looks very dated.
Later, George Hull deliberately created the illusion that he had "accidentally" dug up the fossils of giants. He took the fossil and used the Bible as a gimmick to tour across the United States. In addition to the large number of deceived believers, there are also some well-known media and professionals who come to visit.
Of course, the deception did not stand up to scrutiny, and the truth about the so-called giant fossil was soon revealed. But the hidden business opportunities have made many Americans eager to try.
Nowadays, we only need to search for keywords on the Internet to find many photos that are true and false - such as people cleaning up giant human fossils, water monsters with their heads exposed in lakes, even plants are not spared, piranhas, man-eating trees... In this era when PS was prevalent, people were mostly unfazed by these photos, and it was over to see.
In other words, the cost of rumor-mongering will be higher today, and it is no longer possible to bring up the rhythm with just one picture.
So some ulterior motives of the self-media began to contribute, with wonderful words to paint the photo vividly, it looks like that, those who are willing to believe, but also make people cry and laugh.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="93" > rumors stop at the wise</h1>
Although the Internet has given the public a high degree of freedom of speech, it is definitely not an extralegal place, and many rumors have arisen and spread from the Internet. Those so-called mysterious creatures, some are film special effects, some are artist spoofs, and even some are just the right shooting effects.
Some media who deliberately hype up and the masses who do not know the truth can easily spread rumors. Old photographs, or those circulating from abroad, do not add credibility to it. Many people have never been in contact with the external network because they do not understand the external network, so they feel particularly credible when they look at the foreign claims.
In fact, on the contrary, the censorship mechanism of domestic websites will be more stringent, and many rumors that seem to stand up to scrutiny are spread from abroad.
Therefore, when we are on the Internet, in the face of a flood of information, we must polish our eyes and learn to distinguish between true and false. For example, when watching some major news, pay attention to observe whether the publisher is an official account. Or when reading the article, see if it is full of exaggerated and mysterious writing techniques, and whether it is an eye-catching headline party. For example, some citations are based on whether they specifically indicate which scholar, which paper, or which journal's research results.
Now the network information is so developed, if it is specifically marked out, many can be found on the website, the old saying is good, "paper can not keep the fire after all", as long as it is a rumor, there will be a day when it is recognized. However, we can start from ourselves and improve our ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood, which is the so-called "rumors stop at the wise."
These simple tips can help us better seek truth in the vast amount of network information.