kor | Live Pterosaur

April 24, 2021

Are Modern Pterosaurs Dangerous?

By investigative journalist Jonathan Whitcomb

[Have you seen a pterodactyl? You can safely and privately report here it and be anonymous if you like.]

Native Fisherman Killed by Something Like a Ropen

The following is not a first-hand account but from a native who contacted me by emails in 2010, and he got the story from the grandson of the native fisherman who died three days after being attacked by a kor. I believe this animal is at least related to the ropen, if it is not the same exact species. [I made a few corrections for capitalization, spelling, etc.]

The native of Tandual Village, Pak Island, went fishing and was attacked. The animal destroyed his canoe and he fought it with a traditional fishing spear.

After hours of attacking him and tearing bits of the fisherman’s body apparently the creature was enraged by his refusal to be eaten: Every time the animal attacked he dived under, and when the light above him showed the animal he would lunge up, doing only slight damage.

The animals tail and jaws took a heavy toll as it followed him to shore where a sea cave runs into a crevice which leads into the middle of the island. Its deep and seawater runs through it.

Badly wounded and backing into this ‘Barret”, as it’s called here, he wedged the spear into a crevice and took the animal through the mouth with the spear, made from a souvenir German colonial bayonet. He crawled out was found by villagers who went to see the animal and told his story.

Generic photo of a native of Papua New Guinea: “The last death by this creature” (video on a flying creature attacking a native fisherman)

Various Second-Hand Accounts of Danger

Over the past 17 years, I have received hundreds of reports of apparent living pterosaurs, accounts directly from the eyewitnesses themselves. I have found it quite rare, however, for someone to report to me an attack from a modern “pterodactyl”. I understand the concept that “dead men tell no tales”, but of course that is not evidence.

Many years ago I got an email from a man who said that he and his girlfriend were attacked, as I recall, but he never answered my request for details, so I have no idea where or when the event occurred.

I have indirect reports of extant pterosaurs, apparently, attacking and killing natives in Papua New Guinea. I believe those accounts are basically true, yet I rarely mention them in my blog posts or books, for none of the reports I have received have been directly from eyewitnesses of the attacks, as best as I recall.

I also know of reported attacks on people in British Columbia, Canada, and in Mexico, but those are also indirect accounts.

{This blog post was originally on the blog Pterosaur Fossils but has been transferred to Live Pterosaur}

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Pterodactyl Attack on a Fisherman

On August 1, 2020, I uploaded to Youtube a video memorial for a native fisherman of the southwest Pacific who was attacked by an apparent living pterosaur.

The above is about a human death in northern Papua New Guinea.

Rhamphorhynchoid ropen

From a report in Cryptozoology News, we learn of an encounter in California in which a mother and daughter saw an apparent pterosaur, one with a long tail.

Are modern pterodactyls dangerous?

I recently uploaded a new video about two common fears that Americans have in relation to reports of non-extinct pterosaurs, and it’s on my Youtube channel Protect Animal Life: “Living Pterosaurs – Why fear? – Plus: a secret.”

The long-tailed ropen

The ropen is described in ways that actually lead to two words: “dragon” and “pterosaur,” depending on culture and taste. But notice the word noticeably absent: “extinct.” Many people are convinced that they are alive because they have seen them flying over their heads.

Cryptozoology and pterosaurs

Living pterosaurs? How could they now be living in California, Texas, Florida, South Carolina, Ohio, New York, and many other states? Did not pterosaurs become extinct millions of years ago? Cryptozoology is the study of reports of creatures (or apparent creatures) whose descriptions suggest something other than animals classified by standard biology as extant.

Is the ropen a pterosaur?

In 2011 I made a detailed evaluation of 98 sighting reports, the more credible of the countless eyewitness accounts worldwide. Those 98 were chosen because they appeared unlikely to have been from hoaxes and also unlikely to have been misidentifications of non-pterosaurs. I made some interesting observations, but let’s now look at only the data regarding long tails.

Fight with a modern pterodactyl in northern Papua New Guinea

R.K. also told me about a fisherman who died after fighting off (and killing) one of the creatures; it seems that local natives believe the kor attacked the fisherman to eat him (larger kor are said to catch and eat young crocodiles and turtles).

August 5, 2020

Pterodactyl Attack on a Fisherman

fisherman died after attack from a pterodacty

By the investigative journalist Jonathan Whitcomb

[Report a modern-pterosaur sighting]

About a tragic flying-cryptid encounter

On August 1, 2020, I uploaded to Youtube a video memorial for a native fisherman of the southwest Pacific who was attacked by an apparent living pterosaur. The man died three days later, yet he was able to kill the “kor” before it killed him. At least no other fisherman needs to worry about being attacked by that particular flying creature around the islands of northern Papua New Guinea at night.

Watch this video and see if it’s worth sharing with friends and family.

That attack against this fisherman could have been quite a few decades ago, perhaps in the middle of the 20th century. However that may be, it does seem to relate to other reports that large flying creatures sometimes attack people in other areas of Papua New Guinea.

Here is a still image from this mini-documentary:

The two pilots of this plane later told Whitcomb about the near collision

The following is taken from the description section of this video:

This second-or-third-hand account is not at all typical for videos on this channel, however. The vast majority of accounts of modern living pterosaurs, on “Protect Animal Life”, are first-hand accounts, when anyone is quoted regarding sightings. That’s part of why this encounter was included in this video number 77 rather than in one of the first videos created for this channel. Second-hand accounts are more likely to have become less accurate, in general, compared with first-hand ones.

That does not mean, however, that critically important points must be inaccurate in a second-hand account. Beware of assuming that the old Western dogma of universal extinctions of ALL species of pterosaurs can be adequately propped up by using old string and glue, so to speak: Systematically dismissing all accounts that are not first-hand and then rejecting first-hand accounts through a hodgepodge of unrelated excuses—That is hardly a scientific approach.

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Pterosaurs dangerous to fisherman

The native who reported this to Jonathan Whitcomb is the same man who reported the death of the fisherman from an attack by a “kor” flying creature in northern Papua New Guinea.

Videos on Pterosaur Sightings (post on the blog PEGS)

Eyewitness accounts in the comments sections of videos on the Youtube channel “Protect Animal Life” (which channel has many videos on these astonishing flying creatures that have been seen worldwide)

flying cryptid encounter [blog post about a nonfiction book]

The Girl who saw a Flying Dinosaur introduces young readers (about 8-14 years old) to an exciting new branch of cryptozoology: eyewitness reports of apparent living pterosaurs, and most of these flying creatures appear to be ropens.

What is a Ropen?

This is the ultimate single-web-page on this astonishing featherless flying creature: the ropen. (by Jonathan D. Whitcomb)

Modern Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur

I gave a definition of ropen in the fourth edition of my nonfiction book Searching for Ropens and Finding God:
A modern pterosaur with Rhamphorhynchoid characteristics

Living long-tailed pterosaurs

Now take a whirlwind tour of many years of investigations in cryptozoology, and prepare for a shock: At least two species of pterosaurs have survived, uncommon, not so much rare as widely, thinly distributed. Nocturnal pterosaurs have always lived among us . . .

The reality of ropens

Years ago, some skeptics speculated that reports of the ropen of Papua New Guinea came from people misidentifying the common fruit bats found there. Those critics, however, appear to have failed to take into account exactly what people report observing: something much larger and looking much different.

February 18, 2010May 17, 2016

Japanese World War II ship shelled pterosaur caves

Three days ago, I received an email from R.K. (anonymous), of the Manus Island area of Papua New Guinea. (We starting communicating earlier this month.) The nocturnal flying creatures that he described to me–I believe they are ropens–were common and were dangerous to local fishermen previous to the early 1940’s, when their numbers declined. In these northern islands, the creature is called “kor.”

Here is part of R.K.’s account of the Japanese retaliation against the creatures that had attacked them:

” . . . it was the japs [Japanese military] on the island who were attacked by the kor. They [Japanese soldiers] apparently shot several wounding them then followed them to cves [caves] and blew [blew up] the entrances. They called ships fire on the hills and pounded them for several hours.”

R.K. asks an interesting question: “I wonder if there is a record of that somewhere?” Perhaps there is an old Japanese veteran who knows about this or has written about the battle with those creatures. If so, perhaps the word used for those creatures would be “dragons.”