What nocturnal creature flies without feathers, according to myth transforms itself into a human form, and is feared by many humans who hand down the stories; also, part of the myth is that it will sometimes put the bite on humans. No, it's not the European Dracula vampire; I forgot to mention that it has a long tail, a head crest, and a body form that has been identified with the silhouette of a Sordes Pilosus Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur, commonly called "pterodactyl." Give up? It's the ropen of Papua New Guinea.
Live pterosaurs? Says who? Well, the eyewitnesses. Sightings have been reported by not only natives but by Australians and Americans; not only at night but in daylight; not only by those who believed they would see a live pterosaurs but by those just lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time: Duane Hodgkinson, Brian Hennessy, Scott Norman, Jacob Kepas, Gideon Koro, Jonah Jim, and Jonathan Ragu, to name a few.
Of course Papua New Guinea is remote, so it's difficult to verify eyewitness claims; however, reports indicate "pterodactyls" also live in North America, even in the United States. A new book on pterosaurs living in America explains that part of the reason that this has not previously been trumpeted by the news media is simple: The creatures are very rare and mostly nocturnal.
One press release explains why hoaxes have been eliminated as a general explanation for the many eyewitness accounts of living pterosaurs in the United States. Three factors were isolated in the many reports: Wingspan estimates, assurity-level of feather-less appearance, and tail-length.
In April of 2014, the largest nonfiction book ever published on modern pterodactyls, Searching for Ropens and Finding God, became available to the public. At 353 printed pages, it is nick-named "the Bible of modern pterosaurs." This is the third edition of what was previously titled "Searching for Ropens."
See Pterosaurs Alive for more resources.
By Nathaniel Coleman (pseudonym for author Jonathan Whitcomb)
Live pterosaurs? Says who? Well, the eyewitnesses. Sightings have been reported by not only natives but by Australians and Americans; not only at night but in daylight; not only by those who believed they would see a live pterosaurs but by those just lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time: Duane Hodgkinson, Brian Hennessy, Scott Norman, Jacob Kepas, Gideon Koro, Jonah Jim, and Jonathan Ragu, to name a few.
Of course Papua New Guinea is remote, so it's difficult to verify eyewitness claims; however, reports indicate "pterodactyls" also live in North America, even in the United States. A new book on pterosaurs living in America explains that part of the reason that this has not previously been trumpeted by the news media is simple: The creatures are very rare and mostly nocturnal.
One press release explains why hoaxes have been eliminated as a general explanation for the many eyewitness accounts of living pterosaurs in the United States. Three factors were isolated in the many reports: Wingspan estimates, assurity-level of feather-less appearance, and tail-length.
In April of 2014, the largest nonfiction book ever published on modern pterodactyls, Searching for Ropens and Finding God, became available to the public. At 353 printed pages, it is nick-named "the Bible of modern pterosaurs." This is the third edition of what was previously titled "Searching for Ropens."
See Pterosaurs Alive for more resources.
By Nathaniel Coleman (pseudonym for author Jonathan Whitcomb)