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When someone says “pterodactyl”, they probably mean  “pterosaur.” Are they flying dinosaurs? Not technically  dinosaurs but they do fly. The scientists know they differ  from dinosaurs. Almost all biology text books (that  mention the creatures) proclaim that dinosaurs and  pterosaurs became extinct millions of years ago;  nevertheless, some people believe in the possibility of  survivors. The following are possible misspellings:   pteradactyl teradactile  teridactile   Although some web pages refer to a pterodactyl-like  creature found in a tunnel in France in the 1800’s, and  another to cowboys who shot a giant pterodactyl near  Tombstone, Arizona, these stories left behind no carcass,  even if they’re based on some truth, on some previous  stories that were more factual.   Could pterosaurs live in remote areas of the earth?  According to some cryptozoologists, some of these  featherless flying creatures live in at least some areas of  Papua New Guinea. American explorers who have  searched for them there include the following:   Paul Nation of Texas   Carl Baugh of Texas   Jonathan Whitcomb (now living in Utah)   David Woetzel of New Hampshire   Garth Guessman of California   All five of those cryptozoologist-explorers returned to the  United States believing that large nocturnal living  pterosaurs inhabit at least some of the jungles. Most (if  not all of them) became convinced that at least one  species of long-tailed pterosaur flies at night in this area  of the southwest Pacific.   Before dismissing these men as fanatics, remember that  many important scientific breakthroughs became  recognized only after the initial shock had worn away or  some kind of evidence was found to support the new  ideas. Only a few generations ago, most people in  Western societies would have scoffed at reports of gorillas  in Africa. Hairy human-like monsters in far- away jungles  sounded like fairy tales.   Are huge hairy human-like animals in Africa fictional, like  another version of the bogeyman story? We now know  that African gorillas are just as real as lions and other  animals of that continent. In the same way, the ropen and  other modern pterosaurs will someday be acknowledged  as real animals.   Are huge long-tailed flying creatures, unlike any known  bird or bat, fictional, like another version of the dragon  story? Those who have seriously investigated the sighting  reports now know that the ropen is just as real as birds  and bats. Someday they will be classified in scientific  books, including admission into biology textbooks.  
The following is not an attempt at analyzing scientific history  about assumptions of universal extinctions of both dinosaurs  and pterosaurs. Yet the belief that all pterosaurs became  extinct many millions of years ago is not based on sound  objective evidence but on a number of assumptions.   We need to be open-minded when a number of eyewitnesses  describe flying creatures that are not bats but also do not have  feathers. We need to support expeditions and research into  what these strange creatures are. When many of the  eyewitnesses agree on details that suggest these creatures are  pterosaurs, we need to listen.   In fact, that is precisely the case with eyewitnesses from  around the world. Featherless flying creatures that have long  tails, often described with a Rhamphorynchoid-like flange at  the end of the tail—those are common things in descriptions  given by eyewitnesses.   Examples of Investigations in Cryptozoology   Cryptozoology seems like a new field of science, but it’s more  of an open-minded approach to investigating eyewitness  testimonies of creatures not classified (in the Western scientific  community) or not recognized as presently living.  How is this  done? Consider the following.   1. Expedition by Carl Baugh in 1994   2. Two more expeditions: in 1996 and 2002 3. Whitcomb-Paina expedition of 2004 4. Woetzel-Guessman expedition of 2004   5. Paul Nation’s expedition in 2006   Since the first of the two expeditions of 2004, Americans have  tried giving away cameras to local natives in Papua New  Guinea, hoping it would result in photographs of the flying  bioluminescent creatures known by names like the following:   Ropen (Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea)   Wawanar (small island near New Britain)   Seklo-bali (Morobe Province, mainland PNG)   Indava (deep in mainland of PNG)   Duwas (on or near Umboi Island)   Kor (north of Umboi, near Manus Island)   Contrary to what some outdated web pages and books declare,  apparently there is no flying creature in Papua New Guinea  that is called “duah.” This may have been an error with an  early explorer who mistook the word “duwas” as a plural. This  is now known to be a mistake. “Duwas” is a different name  (singular) for the same creature that glows as it flies over  Umboi at night: the nocturnal ropen.  
Cryptozoology and Pterodactyls
A Live Pterosaur Page
Introduction
“Live Pterosaurs in America” is in its third edition - nonfiction
The above image is taken from a sketch drawn by the U. S. Marine Eskin Kuhn, an eyewitness of two “pterodactyls” flying in daylight in 1971 and observed at close range at Guantanamo Bay
Copyright 2006-2016 Jonathan David Whitcomb
Photograph by Jonathan Whitcomb
cover of nonfiction book "Live Pterosaurs in America"
Paul Nation describes one of his sightings in Papua  New Guinea. His expedition in 2006 resulted in the  first video evidence brought back to the USA of the  glow of the flying creature that some call “ropen.” In  this part of PNG, however, it’s called “indava.” The video footage was analyzed by the missile defense  physicist Clifford Paiva. He wrote an unpublished  scientific paper on his findings in 2007, and Jonathan  Whitcomb published much of it online. Paiva found  that the two flying lights were not from any camp fire,  flashlights, car headlights. Nor were they from meteors  or any other common sources. 
Cartoon sketch of a Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur, perhaps a Dimorphodon Sketch, cartoon style, of a short-tailed Pterodactyloid pterosaur sketch of pterosaur seen in Cuba in 1971 front cover of the paperback book "Searching for Ropens and Finding God" by Whitcomb
Searching for Ropens and Finding God (nonfiction)
Pastor Jacob Kepas (left) and missionary Jim Blume (right) in Lae, Papua New Guinea
Thank God for creationist cryptozoologists and their helpers like Jacob Kepas (left) and American missionary Jim Blume (Thanks to Garth Guessman and David Woetzel for photo)
Cryptozoologist Paul Nation is interviewed in Texas by Jonathan Whitcomb late in 2006
More Details in Cryptozoology Expeditions By 1993, Carl Baugh, of Texas, had heard of islanders in  Papua New Guinea who reported flying creatures (ropens)  that catch fish at night. The descriptions suggested  something like pterosaurs or creatures very much like  pterosaurs, not Flying fox fruit bats.   His two expeditions in 1994 and 1996 led the way for  other explorers to search the jungles of Papua New  Guinea, hoping to see and photograph the ropen.   Paul Nation, also from Texas, participated in the 1994  expedition on Umboi Island, and he returned with his son  Nathanael in 2002, but they were unable to get a sighting  of the elusive nocturnal ropen, although a number of the  native eyewitnesses were interviewed.   The forensic videographer Jonathan Whitcomb (who was  working with video for legal cases or attorney firms),  examined the video-taped testimonies of the local  eyewitnesses and concluded that they were telling the  truth about what they had seen. He went to Umboi Island in 2004 and interviewed eye-   witnesses of the ropen, though he did not see the  creature himself. (But his interpreter did see it one night  after the American had gone to bed.) Before leaving the  island, Whitcomb gave a one-time-use camera to one of  the leaders of Umboi Island (Mark Kau).   Later in 2004, two more Americans, Garth Guessman and  David Woetzel, went to Umboi and searched for the  ropen. Woetzel saw the ropen briefly one night. The two  investigators interviewed villagers who had seen the  nocturnal flying creature, and more cameras were given  out to local natives who wanted to photograph the ropen.   Other expeditions followed, including two more by Paul  Nation, in 2006 and in 2007.  
Cryptozoologist Scott Norman speaks about his encounter with a nocturnal pterosaur
Cryptozoologist Scott Norman speaks about his remarkable sighting of an apparent pterosaur on the west coast of the United States, in 2007. It had a wingspan of 8-10 feet.
Mesa Augustin says the end of the ropen's tail had a diamond shape
Mesa Augustin, who lives in a remote village in the  interior of Umboi Island, describes to cryptozoologist  Jonathan Whitcomb the end of the tail of the gigantic  ropen that he and six other natives saw flying over the  crater lake Pung ~1994: Tail end was like “diamond.”