Yesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing an eyewitness of a possible pterosaur that had flown over the coast of Belize (Central America) in 2006. Actually, Vito Kobliha and another eyewitness saw three long-tailed flying creatures. The apparent pterosaurs were high and rather far off, but Kobliha had the impression that they were not ordinary birds.

Videotaping three apparent living pterosaurs with a professional camera—that set this sighting apart from other sightings. I hope to have a copy of his video soon, so that I can analyze the footage.

Bat Misidentification Shot Down

Featherless flying creatures with long tails are unlikely to be misidentified bats. No bat known to science (officially classified that is) has a long tail, at least not to my knowledge. We need to look at the obvious interpretation first, not blindly hold onto dogma by insisting on some kind of misidentification.

That does not mean I will not be looking at the possibility of a misidentified bird, when I view the video footage from Belize. I will scrutinize the video carefully and compare the three flying objects with images of birds that fly in Belize and that have long legs that are held behind them during flight.

From the above-linked web site on the pterosaur in Cuba:

Mr. Kuhn had assumed that the two long-tailed pterosaurs he observed were exceptional cases and that short tails were what would be expected of modern living pterosaurs. That was before his 2010 interview with cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb. Most sightings do involve long tails.

Misidentification Possibility for a Model Pterodactyl

Regarding the sighting in southwest Greensburg, Pennsylvania, in 2006:

There is no mechanical model, of a pterosaur, that catches and eats ducks or rats. Let me explain with reference to this apparent pterosaur in Pennsylvania, quoting from both the Live Pterosaur blog mentioned and the source for that posting on that blog.

“The wing span appeared to be at least six feet . . . you could clearly make out a long ‘horn’ or ‘cone’ type protrusion coming out of the back of its skull, which was at the end of an elongated neck . . . This ‘bird’ also seemed to have a long tail . . . As it was almost directly over us we all agreed we couldn’t see feathers anywhere and my student Carrie said ‘It looks like pterodactyl . . .  doesn’t it?’ . . . There are always ducks in that water as well as rats and other things. When she came back . . . she said it had taken off, Carrie said it was in the water splashing and eating or grabbing something in its mouth.”

Model Pterosaur Misidentification in Belize?

Three factors discourage this interpretation (mechanical model of a pterosaur) for the 2006 Belize sighting. This Central American country is a somewhat unlikely place for somebody to fly a mechanical model of a pterosaur. More telling, perhaps, is that three of them were flying together and at high altitude, at least high for models. No, this is not a reasonable interpretation, this misidentified flying model idea.

Nearly surrounded by Malaysia and Indonesia, the city-state of Singapore now appears like a large city, but it was not always so. About half a century ago, a small boy took a walk in a “forested area” that is probably now part of the city of Singapore. He saw two flying creatures that he later recognized as pterosaurs, very unlike the common fruit bats.

Singapore Pterosaur

I was wandering some distance from the village; I was staying in Alexandra Road area, and was out on an adventure hunt one hot afternoon in a forested area when I came across a pair of them flying together [as they circled the palm trees] . . . at that time I thought nothing more of them . . . at such a young age, at that time, I never knew they were thought to be extinct.

Pterosaurs Near Singapore

“They were very much bigger than flying foxes and they did not glide like these smaller creatures. I have seen flying foxes many times at my location before.”

Credibility for pterosaurs living in and around Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Australia comes not from this sighting in the Singapore area. It comes from many reports of apparent pterosaurs . . .

A strange point of this sighting is what those two pterosaurs were eating: the orange fruit from palm trees. Those flying creatures may have been only distantly related to the ropen of Papua New Guinea, which is reported to eat what it catches on reefs and what carrion it finds on Umboi Island and probably on other islands.

In other parts of the world where nocturnal pterosaurs or apparent pterosaurs have been seen to fly, the creatures seem to be catching bats. One news report in Europe seems indirectly related but intriguing: bats catching birds at night.

“Giant Bats” Catch Flying Birds at Night

Only a few years ago, scientists discovered that a large European bat eats birds that it catches at night, snatching songbirds in flight. I found it interesting for two reasons: Few Europeans have ever encountered these bats and something other than an apparent pterosaur catches flying creatures at night (if we call songbirds “flying creatures”).

Researchers have now found evidence of a giant European bat that is plucking migrating birds out of the night sky. . . . This bat [the giant noctule bat: Nyctalus lasiopterus] is hairy and brown, with a wingspan slightly bigger than a blue jay’s. It is one of Europe’s largest bats and it has a huge mouth full of scary-looking teeth. It is one of the least-known bats in all of Europe — it spends its days hiding out at the tops of tall trees.

Popa-Lisseanu is an expert on giant noctules, and says it has long been known that these bats feed on flying insects. What wasn’t known until recently is that the giant noctule may be the only bat that eats birds on the wing.

I don’t mean “Edna” or “Bob” or “Tiffany.” What name would you think of at the sight of a large flying creature, bigger than any bat, that had no feathers? Let’s consider some common names that come to mind: “pterodactyl” and “flying dinosaur” and “prehistoric bird” and “flying creature.” These names are sometimes chosen by eyewitnesses.

Pterodactyl

Regarding the creationist cryptozoologists who have explored in Papua New Guinea, searching for the ropen (also known as “pterodactyl”), this web page says:

Regardless of what people think about living pterodactyls, regardless of what people think about creation and evolution, the enthusiasm of these few Americans, searching jungles, is noteworthy. And what if they’re right? Wouldn’t modern living pterodactyls be good news in a world sorely needing good news about life?

 Flying Dinosaur

Note that “dinosaur” is technically inaccurate, as pterosaurs were not actually dinosaurs.

The “flying dinosaur” of Papua New Guinea is often called “ropen.” It seems to be a Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur . . . far larger than any of the fossils of Rhamphorhynchoids known, at least into the early 21st century. . . . much more like a pterosaur than anything else.

Prehistoric Bird

Note that the creationist cryptozoologists who search for these creatures do not believe that dinosaurs and pterosaurs are really prehistoric. They believe that they are as modern as common animals that we take for granted.

Years of investigations have validated the cryptozoologists who have been searching for “prehistoric birds” (mostly ropens) and interviewing eyewitnesses. This long-tailed flying cryptid is seen around the world, but reports are common around New Guinea.

Also note that “bird” is not technically correct, for these flying creatures have no feathers.

Flying Creature

This designation, “flying creature,” is accurate, for it is a creature that flies.

. . . “giant bat” is not really a reasonable explanation. In Papua New Guinea, the Flying Fox fruit bat is large . . . but that bat is huge only in comparison with most of the bats. The “ropen” is much larger, with some of the reports suggesting a wingspan greater than twenty-five feet. No fruit bat has a wingspan much greater than six feet at the very most.

See “What Flies in the Night” (ropen poetry)