The ropen, as it is called on Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea (PNG), has a long tail. That distinguished it from the Flying Fox fruit bat.
Gideon Koro, a native of Umboi Island, told the American cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb that the tail of the ropen he saw was seven meters long. This makes it obvious that it was no bat. The ropen has been seen to fly down to reefs in Papua New Guinea, apparently to catch fish or other sea life. Two eyewitnesses on Umboi described how a ropen held itself upright on a tree trunk as it looked down at them. Fruit bats, on the other hand, do not do this.