Ropen (Cryptozoology)

Today it is Thursday and you know what that means. It’s time for yet another cryptid creature, here is the Ropen!

Pterodactyls or pterosaurs have been extinct for as long as the dinosaurs, about 65 milion years (No pterosaurs aren’t dinosaurs). Yet an interesting fact is that natives in Papua New Guinea have long claimed that a featherless flying bird with a long tail is part of the fauna and some westerners have even reported seeing the creature for at least half a century

The natives say the creature is nocturnal and very rarely seen. When it is spotted it is usually because of a strange light it emits allegedly to attract fish. This is an interesting fact because even though the Ropen may resemble some sort of pterosaur no fossil evidence has been found that suggests the creatures had the ability to emit light to attract prey like for example some deep sea fish do. But the flying fiend is reported to have a diet consisting of more than just fish. Some reports speak of ropens that have desecrated graves and eaten the buried humans.

Papua New Guinea is called the lost world by many scientists because of the many new species found every year in the hugely unexplored jungles and it’s not just small insects we’re talking about here, it’s also mammals, reptiles and birds. What could people be seeing for all these years? Misidentified birds or bats? It seems unlikely because some Ropen sightings talk of a creature that is just too big, and what bat or bird emits light? Could it be an unknown species of the 2 aforementioned? A new species altogether? Or could a small population of pterosaurs really have remained hidden from modern science for this long?