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Comparing Worldwide Sightings of Living Pterosaurs: Long Tails

Perosaur Sketch by Eskin Kuhn

By Jonathan Whitcomb

How common are reports of long tails on apparent modern pterosaurs! We now begin with a report from Sudan, Africa, as I wrote in the fourth edition of my book Searching for Ropens and Finding God (page 152):

Flying Creature in Africa

I received another email, one directly from an eyewitness himself:

“In Sudan the classic house is one level made of mud bricks and walls, 3-5 rooms, 1-2 bathrooms and a kitchen, each room being a separate unit, but connected by a roofless hallway that leads to the patios.

“One evening in July of 1988, we had some guest over the house. . . . The guest were in the living room which was at one end of the house . . . I took the tray [of cookies and tea] walked through the open hallway and proceeded to the living room.

“When I got to the patio, I noticed something on the roof of my uncle’s room. . . . I was standing by the bathroom, about 10 feet away from it. . . . I seen it very clearly . . .

“It was very large, about 4 or 5 feet in height. It was an olive brown color, no feathers. It was leathery looking.. . . It had really large black claws and its tail looked like a lion’s tail . . . very long and had a bushy or hairy tip.

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Ropen Sightings in Papua New Guinea

During my expedition on Umboi Island, in the southwest Pacific in 2004, I was fortunate to interview three young men deep in the interior of that island. They were in a group of seven native boys, about ten years earlier, who had a shocking encounter with a gigantic ropen. Soon after arriving at the crater lake Pung, in the middle of the day, the creature flew over the surface of that lake.

While questioning Gideon Koro, I asked how long the tail was: He said, “seven meetuh” (7 meters or 23 feet). His brother Wesley later told me that the ropen they had encountered was “too big”.

Non-native eyewitnesses in Papua New Guinea have also described a long tail on an apparent “pterodactyl” or “prehistoric” flying creature. Duane Hodgkinson, in 1944, saw one with a tail he estimated to have been “at least ten or fifteen feet” long. Brian Hennessy’s creature (1971) had a tail that he described as “longish narrow”.

Other eyewitnesses, in many areas of the world, often describe apparent pterosaurs as having long tails. In addition, many of those persons also saw some kind of appendage at the end of the tail.

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Conclusion

It seems that at least one species of Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur lives in many areas of the planet. These flying creatures are generally nocturnal and rare in any particular area at any particular time.

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Perosaur Sketch by Eskin Kuhn
Kuhn saw two pterosaurs in Cuba, in 1971

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Ropen pterodactyl

Within a few weeks after my return to the United States, two other Americans searched that same island for the ropen. They were able to explore areas in the north, where I had not been, and interview natives that I had not been able to contact.

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Photo of a living pterosaur

In 2007, a businessman encountered a gigantic pterosaur as it flew in front of his car in Irvine, California, near the university, according to what he reported to me. The tail alone was about 15 feet long . . .

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Flying creature with a long tail

Eyewitnesses from around the world testify of the featherless flying creatures that they have observed, unlike any bat and obviously not any bird.

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Rhamphorhynchoid sighting in Minnesota

Three of us seen it. It was just turning light and it was gliding over a two lane road in front of the truck headed for a swampy area in Minnesota. . . . The teeth were all sharp, yes that’s how close we were. It had a spade tail as long as its body and a crest on its head with wings like a bat. Its color was reddish brown.

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Living pterosaur in the United States

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.

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Cognitive bias and living pterosaurs

Jonathan Whitcomb, executive director of Animal Discovery in Utah, suggests why a few professional paleontologists, along with some amateurs, have loudly objected to conclusions from investigators of eyewitness accounts of apparent non-extinct pterosaurs: “Most likely they’re afraid that public respect for traditional paleontology may be damaged.”

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Pterodactyl with a long tail

Eyewitnesses from around the world testify of the featherless flying creatures that they have observed, unlike any bat and obviously not any bird.

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Living pterosaur sightings

In 2007, I was on Bragg Street and I heard the trees ruffle and that same thing flew from one side of the street to the other. It was beside the bike trail before you get to Central Women’s Prison. I knew I wasn’t crazy: This time a guy at the other end looking towards me saw it [at] the same time. We just stared and both said, “Did you see that?”

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Ropen as a living pterosaur

This page contains hundreds of references to sightings of apparent living pterosaurs, accounts from around the world.

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A non-extinct pterodactyl

Featherless flying reptiles appear to live across the globe, shocking and sometimes frightening eyewitnesses of these apparent modern pterosaurs. The animals are also called “pterodactyls” or even “flying dinosaurs” or “dinosaur birds”.

If it has a long tail, it is called “ropen”, but in some areas of Africa this reptile-creature is known as “kongamato”.

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Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur

It is a strange description, to be sure, that combination of a head crest and a Rhamphorhynchoid-like tail that has a structure at tail-end. It appears almost as strange as a description of a platypus, to someone who knows about mammals and ducks but who has been ignorant of that strange animal that now lives in Australia.

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Contact Jonathan Whitcomb

Communicate with the cryptozoologist

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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

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

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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Ropen Song on Youtube

Jonathan Whitcomb sings the ropen song - sea coast of Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea

By the ropen expert Jonathan Whitcomb

Yesterday, I uploaded another ropen video to Youtube: “Ropen Song – I’d never find you in a zoo.” I wrote the song especially for this mini-documentary about these nocturnal flying creatures, yet it will not be the last time I write a song about the ropen. This was the first time I ever sang for a Youtube video.

Here are the lines, not counting repetitions:

There’s an old world awaiting
Just north of Aubussi
It is Papua New Guinea
Predating history

I looked for you on Umboi
To see if you were you
For I thought I’d never find you in a zoo

You’re not a magic dragon
But you do live by the sea
On a far-off jungle island
In a land called Siassi

Jonathan Whitcomb sings the ropen song - sea coast of Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea

From the video “Ropen Song – I’d never find you in a zoo”

The first part of this song is a spoof on “I’ll never find another you” by the Seekers, of Australia (a top hit in the 1960’s). After the song, I explain why the skeptical attack against the ropen, related to the combination of the head crest and the Rhamphorhynchoid-like tail, is completely invalid and for more than one reason.

Watch the video here:

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Do ropens have hair?

Why talk about hair on modern pterosaurs, or apparent living pterosaurs, now? I recently saw part of a video on Youtube, a highly critical attack against the possibility that such flying creatures exist. My video is a response to the idea that the ropen is not a real animal because it is reported to have no hair. Watch the video to get an introduction to my response . . .

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Declaration on the Ropen

A minority of the overall sightings have been of featherless flying creatures that seemed to have been less like the ropen and more like the pterosaurs known from fossils as Pterodactyloids. This “Declaration on the Ropen,” however, is about the ones that are more like Rhamphorhynchoids, those pterosaurs with longer tails.

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Living pterosaurs in newspapers

That point of view of a typical newspaper reader means that news professionals generally take a skeptical view when writing about people who report observing large featherless flying creatures. That kind of skepticism comes out in the article, even should many eyewitnesses report such sightings in the same state or city. That is not just theoretical, for the state of North Carolina is an example, as is the city of Raleigh.

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Should we fear living pterosaurs?

I suggest people be careful about wild animals in general, including apparent pterosaurs. We have much to learn about these flying creatures, and some of them, at least, may be dangerous.

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Recent Sightings of Apparent Living Pterodactyls

  • Connecticut
  • Minnesota
  • Ohio

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Two Types of Pterosaurs Still Living

Two types of modern pterosaurs - long tailed from Cuba and one in Papua New Guinea without any long tail

By modern-pterosaur investigative journalist Jonathan Whitcomb

Modern pterosaurs come in two flavors, apparently similar to what scientists have found in fossils of those featherless flying creatures from the past:

  1. Long-tailed Rhamphorhynchoid-like
  2. Short-tailed Pterodactyloid-like

Contrary to the surface appearance from looking at a statistic in my compilation of data early in the year 2013, extant pterosaurs in modern times do not likely actually involve a 20-to-1 ratio of long-tails to short-tails. The long tails catch the attention of the eyewitness, riveting that feature in the memory of the person who sees it. It could be a ratio of 5-to-1 or even 3-to-1, but long tails unquestionably dominate sightings, compared with short tails.

With 41% of the 128 sightings including descriptions of a long tail, the Rhamphorhynchoid-like ones surely outnumber the Pterodactyloid-like ones. Shocking as the existence of a species of modern pterosaur may be to peoples of Western cultures, this statistical fact gives a whole new level of shock, for it strongly suggests that evolution has not taken place in these featherless flying creatures in anything remotely like what’s been portrayed.

In the image shown below, the left side is the sketch drawn by the eyewitness Eskin Kuhn in 1971 at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; the right side is a still image from a video recorded by the biologist Peter Beach, during an expedition on New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea, in 2015. Both sightings appeared to have been of modern pterosaurs.

The left side shows an obvious similarity to end-of-tail flanges of Rhamphorhynchoids; the right side shows the absence of any long tail on the huge featherless flying creature that was seen clearly in daylight by two American explorers.

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Two types of modern pterosaurs

Rhamphorhynchoid-like in 1971 (left) and Pterodactyloid-like in 2015

We need to keep an open mind to the possibility that we should set aside old ideas about the origins of pterosaurs known from fossils, including popular concepts from previous centuries. This field of cryptozoology needs to graduate into a new field of investigation in biology.

About Jonathan Whitcomb

I’m an independent investigative journalist, having spent more hours in this narrow field of cryptozoology, during the past fifteen years, than any other person in the world, to the best of my knowledge: well over 10,000 hours.

Some of my work has been interviewing eyewitnesses of apparent living pterosaurs, sometimes by phone but usually by emails. On occasion I visit the location of a sighting, and I sometimes travel to interview eyewitnesses face-to-face. Most of my time, however, has been with analyzing, comparing, and writing about the sightings. I’ve had direct contact with eyewitnesses from five continents (not counting second-hand and third-hand accounts).

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Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs

Those interviews in Papua New Guinea in 2004 do not scientifically prove the ropen is very closely related to the Sordes pilosus, but it gives strong cryptozoological evidence that it may be related to that pterosaur known from fossils.

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Pterosaurs Still Living

About twelve cryptozoologists who have played a major role in this field of cryptozoology: modern non-extinct pterosaurs

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Unicornorism and Living Pterosaurs

Protecting old ideas by appealing to how long they have been popular or to how popular they are. This is the main enemy to objective living-pterosaur investigations, this dogmatic position of many Westerners.

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Pterodactyloid

Late in 2006, Garth Guessman, a living-pterosaur investigator, interviewed three Americans who had worked in or visited a medical mission in Central New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea. The three had separate sightings, in daylight, of what may be extant (non-extinct) Pterodactyloids. (short-tailed pterosaurs, a.k.a. “pterodactyls”)

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No tail on flying creature – expedition in 2015

. . . two Americans, Milt Marcy and Peter Beach, were searching for a living pterosaur. They spent quite a few weeks on that remote tropical island [New Britain, Papua New Guinea] in 2015, but they were rewarded with a sighting of a flying creature that others had previously seen in that area: a non-extinct pterosaur.

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Modern long-tailed pterosaurs

How common is a long tail on a modern pterosaur! Of the 128 more-credible sighting reports compiled at the end of 2012, 41% reported a long tail.

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Pterodactyl sightings

Many years ago, I tried (without success) to get in touch with Allison Jornlin, the writer of an article on a pterosaur sighting in Wisconsin: “PTERODACTYLS OVER WISCONSIN — STRANGE THINGS ARE HAPPENING IN THE SKY!”