Cryptozoology

Big Foot, Nessie, Champ, and Yeti--these well-known cryptids have received much attention over many years. Whether its an ape-like
land creature or an aquatic dinosaur-like creature, cryptids are not
found in biology textbooks for they are unclassified. Not all cryptids
are revolutionary; for example, the Giant Anaconda of South America
may be just that: an anaconda. The lack of documentation of any
sixty-foot long snake means little (anacondas are known to grow to
be very long and such reptiles are classified, not cryptozoological).

But what about the ropen of Papua New Guinea? What about the kongamato of Africa? These apparent pterosaurs are said to live in remote tropical forests where few scientists have looked for them. Although the kongamato has received little expedition-attention, the ropen has been sought by American explorers from 1994 into 2007. The strange thing about the ropen, however, is that it is now being sought not in a remote island in Papua New Guinea but in several areas in the United States. According to Jonathan Whitcomb, author of the book "Searching for Ropens," most of the active ropen seekers who explored in Papua New Guinea years ago now seek the creatures in places like California and Washington state.