Although "pterosaur" is the correct scientific name, the common word "pterodactyl" is used herein.
What do clear-thinking persons
think of a news release about living
pterodactyls? A World War II veteran says that he saw a live “pterodactyl” in
New Guinea in 1944.
Does he mean the pterosaur that is said to have become
extinct millions of years ago? A modern pterodactyl in 1944 seems to contradict many
science programs.
If this press release referred to an isolated account, we might dismiss the veteran’s report, but natives
on the island of
Umboi (in Papua New Guinea) have reported the same thing: the long-tailed
bat-like “ropen” eats fish. This is just
north of Finschhafen, where the American veteran saw a giant pterodactyl that had a
tail “at least ten to fifteen feet long.”
The
ropen investigator,
Jonathan Whitcomb (author of the nonfiction book
Searching for Ropens), is hardly alone believing that modern
pterodactyls live in Papua New Guinea: a
missionary has also interviewed natives who say that they have seen this pterosaur-like creature,
and two other Americans have also interviewed
Umboi Island natives in recent years; in the 1990’s other Americans did the same, and
the investigations are ongoing. Eyewitness reports continue into the 21st Century.
Another news release gives additional information:
This is about creation and
evolution. Those who’ve gone to this remote island, “searching for ropens,” are creationists (
Creation account
in Genesis) who believe in using literal interpretations of the Bible as the foundation for their beliefs (rather than using the assumption
that everything was a big accident). But there’s more: They maintain that
objective scientific investigations validate their idea
that pterosaurs are still living, and that dogmatic adherence to the
General Theory of Evolution (according to the living-pterosaur
investigator Jonathan Whitcomb) is, at times, a major hindrance to scientific progress.
In other words, these creationists are
asking Western societies to take an objective look at extinction ideas, for eyewitness reports from different countries, from persons
speaking different languages and having different beliefs about science, religion, and Darwin's evolution ideas.
How can Bible-believing creationists be objective? Did not the trial of
Galileo prove that religion is antagonistic to science? No,
the truth is that the causes of the trial of Galileo were more complex. Indeed, he not only believed in God, he believed that Bible
scriptures, correctly understood, must correspond to the results of carefully conducted experiments. Just as objective thinking was
possible with the Christians Galileo and
Newton, it is possible with modern Bible-believing creation scientists.
Regardless
of what people think about living pterodactyls, regardless of what people think about creation and evolution, the enthusiasm of these
few Americans, searching jungles, is noteworthy. And what if they’re right? Wouldn’t modern living pterodactyls be good news
in a world sorely needing good news about life?
Other sites referring to
living pterosaurs:
"Why I
looked for Living Pterosaurs,"
by Jonathan Whitcomb
Yes! They do live.
and
Woetzel (Umboi Island, 2004)
Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea