© 1990 William Wentworth
© 1990 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
“BEHEMOTH BIRD’S FOSSILS FOUND BY SCIENTISTS.” This is the headline of a news report I was given by Helen Hutchinson. The report was made in 1980 I believe, one year before I started studying The URANTIA Book.
One of man’s greatest desires seems to be to fly. It is reported that flying enters the dream fantasies of humans and is a sign of intelligence. I remember having a lucid dream recently. As soon as I realized I was asleep and dreaming (I did this by repeatedly slapping my own face in my dream; when I did not wake up as there was no pain, I immediately realized I was asleep and dreaming.) I started flapping my arms and amazingly started to rise through the air. I soared above and around buildings and fields. My view was that of a bird. I was breathless. Though it lasted less than a minute I am sure, it was one of the most exhilirating experiences I have ever had. In fact I have dreamed of flying many times, and only once in a plane. All the others were as a bird, flapping and rising, soaring and hovering, sometimes tipping the cornstalks with my feet as I furiously skimmed the open fields of my dream world. It has always fascinated me, and still does.
Man has watched the birds and longed to fly like them, with them, or on them for thousands of years. We who read The URANTIA Book understand this desire better than most because we have been introduced to the real passenger birds of our planet, the fandors.
The rise of the fandor started about 45 million years ago. A large ostrichlike bird that stood about 10 feet tall and laid an egg 9 by 13 inches was the early ancestor of the fandors. (UB 61:1.9) In the days of Caligastia and the Caligastia one hundred, about 500,000 years ago, Bon, the director of the board of animal domestication and utilization, led his group to the successful training and use of the giant passenger birds. (UB 66:5.6)
Adam and Eve used these marvellous creatures some thirty-eight thousand years ago. “From the large passenger birds the fandors — Adam and Eve looked down upon the vast stretches of the Garden while being carried through the air over this, the most beautiful spot on earth.” (UB 74:3.4) On UB 74:4.4 it again mentions their use by the Material Son and Daughter of Urantia, “…even while the passenger birds were swiftly winging to bring them to the temple…” “The early races also make extensive use of the larger flying animals. These enormous birds are able to carry one or two average-sized men for a nonstop flight of over five hundred miles.” (UB 52:1.5) Even though many of our ancestors were smaller than modern man this was no easy load. Adam and Eve, remember, were both over eight feet tall. (UB 74:1.1)
On UB 52:1.5 the Book explains that on some planets these birds are of great service because they possess a high level of intelligence and can often speak many words of the languages of the realm. It goes on to describe them as highly intelligent, obedient, and unbelievably affectionate. I am sure people who ride horses will be able to identify with this description. I would like to point out as well, had you never seen or heard of a horse, you probably would not believe such a creature could exist, so perfectly fitted to man’s early needs were they. (UB 61:3.10)
The bones of the bird were found in Argentina, about 100 miles west of Buenos Aires, by Drs. Eduardo P. Tonni and Rosendo Pascual of Argentina’s La Plata Museum. Parts of three different wing bones and parts of the skull were uncovered. Dr. Kenneth E. Campbell, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, stated, “This makes it the world’s largest known flying bird.” The remains are of a bird that measured 11 feet from beak to tail, weighed between 160 and 170 pounds, and stood over 6 foot tall. “It’s definitely a most spectacular creature,” said Campbell.
Most spectacular indeed. If they only knew how spectacular it must have been to ride the back of one of these magnificent creatures. Compared to todays birds they were truly enormous. The biggest flying bird alive is the Andean Condor with a 10 foot wingspan and a weight of about 35 pounds. Even fossil records show the biggest previously known flying birds were extinct varieties with wingspans approaching 16 feet. The bones found in Argentina were identified to be similar to a teratorn, a bird resembling a condor but much larger. Although no one knows exactly what teratorns looked like, these “wonder birds” named by the Greeks, are thought to have flown like condors, and the representation is based on these facts.
How sad that these great birds were allowed to disappear from our planet. I think of similar animals that may prove beneficial to mankind being completely lost to our future. The elephant, nemesis of some, workhorse of others, may be lost to our descendants if our attitude about them does not change. Only in the region of India do the people realize this animal is suited perfectly for heavy work in the jungle. Ironically, the elephants are being used to clear the jungle itself, thereby literally working themselves out of a job, and maybe a life.
But the fandors, even though extinct on Urantia for over thirty-thousand years, UB 66:5.6, are not gone forever. They are waiting for us on Jerusem, capital of Satania, our local system. It states on UB 46:2.4 while describing the physical features of Jerusem, “The transport birds fly at about one hundred miles an hour.” So maybe our dreams are not for naught. I still hope someday to soar through the air on one of these wonderful birds.
Frank Wright, Frankfurt, West Germany
From:
‘PURSUIT OF WISDOM’, Vo1 2 No 2, June 1989