Modern Day Dinosaur Encounters

It’s claimed mysterious flying creatures that glow in the dark hunt the darker jungles of a raw, savage land, swooping down on their terrified prey and mercilessly devouring them with rows of razor-like teeth…

The Ropen (“demon flyer”) is a creature that’s terrorized the natives of Papua New Guinea’s jungles and outlying islands for thousands of years.
 

First brought to the attention of Western missionaries following the second world war, the nocturnal flying creature is said to have large bat-like wings, an elongated beak filled with teeth, sharp, tearing claws and a very long tail with a split or flange on the end. Reports from natives and a few investigators claim that the creatures also glow in the dark and are visible at night in the sky. This phenomenon, called the “Ropen light,” was observed and videotaped by researcher David Woetzel.
 

Researchers speculate that the bio-luminescent glow aids the creatures in catching fish, their primary diet.

The Ropen and the Duah

Eyewitness reports collected by exploration teams seeking evidence of the creature leads researchers to believe there may be two distinct animals. This hypothesis is supported by a 1595 maritime chart cautioning sailors about sea monsters and depicting coastal regions of the Earth where they might be found. In the area of Papua New Guinea, two “sea monsters” are illustrated, one is much larger than the other, yet both have similar physical traits. Each have long necks,prominent head crests, tails ending with a flipper and ridges along their backs. They are shown flying above an island in the book “A Pictorial History of Sea Monsters,” by James B. Sweeney.
 

Debates usually accompany any cryptozoological animal and the Ropen is no different. The general consensus amongst orthodox scientists is the creature doesn’t exist. Amongst those that have actually traveled deep into Papua New Guinea’s rain forests and tiny offshore islands, not only do two creatures exist, but strong evidence exists that one is very large with a 20-foot or larger wingspan while the other has only a 4 to 4-foot wingspan.
 

Natives agree. They call the small creature a “Duah,” and state it is not a Ropen at all.

Can they be pterosaurs?

Researchers believe both are members of the pterosaur family thought to be extinct some 65 million years ago. The large Ropen may be living Dimorphodon pterosaurs, with dermal bumps and a head crest, while the descriptions of the smaller creatures that presumably inhabit the caves of the islands dotting the Bismarck Archipelago tally with that of the extinct Rhamphorhynchus, a pterosaur with a wingspan of 3-4 feet.
 

A creature spotted flying around Manus Island off Papua New Guinea with a wingspan of 3 to 4-feet, according to Jim Blume, a missionary in Wau, on the mainland may be a Rhamphorhynchus.

Blume’s investigations indicate that wingspans may reach ten to fifteen feet in other areas. Several other investigators mention native encounters with Ropens that have much larger wingspans.
 

Whatever the two creatures are, they may not be exclusive to Papua New Guinea, similar creatures have been sighted and reported for centuries in Central Africa.

The natives in the Congo, Zambia, Angola, Kenya and Zaire call it the Ropen-like creature the “Kongomato.” They claim that the reddish creature has large, leathery wings, sharp claws, a split tail, and teeth.

Natives of Papua New Guinea might help identify the African creatures, but the island people are too busy with their own flying monsters.