Introduction to the Philosophies
Both negative and positive reactions to these living-
pterosaur investigations deserve attention. Huge
flying pterosaurs, non-extinct, with no photo in a
newspaper and no news flash on television—that
does seem odd. But these investigations in a narrow
branch of cryptozoology deserve careful attention,
not a brusque dismissal.
It’s not that no photograph or video footage exists
anywhere in the world, but those evidences appear
to be few and the Western world seems to be un-
prepared to accept them for what they are.
Western cultural/scientific opinions on pterosaur
extinction need reevaluation. Standard assump-
tions, even when labeled "science," are often taught
in Americans schools, including many colleges and
universities, as if they were unchallengeable facts.
In reality, universal pterosaur extinction is just a
popular idea and is based upon a widely-promoted
and old philosophy: Strict Naturalism.
In some educational circles, any idea appearing to
contradict “Naturalism” is avoided or ridiculed.
That in itself may be a major part of the problem
that prevents many professors from investigating
reports of apparent living pterosaurs or even just
gaining access to those reports.
Ancient extinctions of all pterosaurs and dinosaurs,
an idea repeated consistently in the media and in
educational materials, supports the philosophy of
Strict Naturalism. “Living Pterosaur” research, a
niche of cryptozoology, is considered non-standard
by many biologists, although some naturalists are
involved in other branches of cryptozoology.
Most of those who have been active in this research
have either taken upon themselves the label of
“creationist” or it has been given to them. David
Woetzel, Garth Guessman, Jonathan Whitcomb,
and others have made it clear that they see some
relationship between their scientific investigations
and religion.
That does not mean that those who hold to a non-
Christian philosophy about the origin of life are
more objective or scientific in their investigations
of nature than a scientist who believes in the Bible.
Isaac Newton may have spent more time in the
study of the Bible than he did in scientific work,
but that did not prevent him from achieving great
success in science.
Please keep an open mind to the possibility that
at least some of the living-pterosaur investigators
may have been reasonably objective in their many
hours of work interviewing eyewitnesses and in
analyzing the resulting testimonies.
Objectiveness
Reports of Live Pterosaurs in the Southwest Pacific
Ropens and other modern pterosaurs live in and around Australia and Papua New Guinea
These Americans have searched for living pterosaurs in the southwest Pacific
Introduction to the Sightings
Does a live pterodactyl fly over villages of some
southwest Pacific islands? Many testimonies do
suggest nocturnal long-tailed creatures (called
“Rhamphorhynchoids” by some researchers),
having names like “ropen” and “duwas” (Don’t
confuse with “duah,” a Western mistake), live in
both coastal areas of the mainland of Papua New
Guinea and on smaller islands such as Umboi
and Manus. A similar one was seen, in 1971, over
Perth, Australia, while a couple was taking an
evening walk near a sport stadium.
Pterosaurs, not “Flying Dinosaurs”
A common misunderstanding involves calling
pterosaurs “flying dinosaurs.” They are quite a
different kind of animal, not a type of dinosaur.
They are portrayed together in films and on
television, as if all species lived anciently and
became extinct before humans existed. No!
The image at the top of this page is the harbor at Lab Lab, Umboi Island (Siasi), Papua New Guinea
Who we are — living-pterosaur investigators
Duane Hodgkinson’s sighting of the huge
“pterodactyl” on the New Guinea mainland,
in 1944, has given us a dramatic source of
information on the amazing ropen.
During the Second World War, two soldiers,
one of them Duane Hodgkinson, stopped
on a trail west of the town of Finschhafen,
on the mainland of what was then New
Guinea (now Papua New Guinea). After
entering a clearing, they saw a winged
creature take off into the air.
At first assuming it was a bird, it soon be-
came obvious to Hodgkinson that it was a
“pterodactyl” with a wingspan of over
twenty feet; the other soldier had been a
biology student before the war, and he
soon decided to insist on keeping quiet
about their encounter. Be aware that both
men had observed the same thing, and
this became clear to those who interviewed
Hodgkinson in depth, over a period of
months, years later: Garth Guessman and
Jonathan Whitcomb.
The other soldier refused to talk about the
sighting: not because they did not see an
apparent pterosaur with a wingspan that
was similar to that of a small private plane
but because they HAD seen that animal.
In other words, the other man simply did
not want to be ridiculed for reporting an
encounter that could sound impossible.
The appendage at the back of the head of
the flying creature caught Hodgkinson’s
attention. The World War II veteran was
interviewed in 2004, by Jonathan David
Whitcomb, through emails, phone calls,
and a survey form that Whitcomb had
prepared. The eyewitness choose from
among various silhouettes of possible
head crest lengths (and other variations
of appearance), and the final resulting
composite of the head was unlike a bat.
Whitcomb concluded that Hodgkinson
had witnessed a large ropen.
“My living-pterosaur research began around late
2002; I became more actively involved, however,
in 2003, first in communicating with a missionary
in Venezuela. I became fascinated at why natives
living near the Erebato River still never drink the
water from that river.
“Long ago the natives in that area were sometimes
attacked by a ‘giant bat,’ and at least once it killed
a native. Soon after one killing, the monster was
seen defecating into the river. (‘Erebato’ means
bat feces.) This may have happened many genera-
tions ago, but the people still remember it to the
extent that they avoid drinking Erebato water.
In 2004, I led a brief expedition on Umboi Island,
Papua New Guinea, interviewing natives who had
seen the huge nocturnal ropen that flies over that
tropical island and visits the reefs at night.
Copyright 2006-2019 Jonathan Whitcomb
Are pterosaurs extinct? (Not all of them are.)
ver-016
Objectiveness
Reports of Live Pterosaurs
in the Southwest Pacific
Ropens and other modern pterosaurs live in
and around Australia and Papua New Guinea
These Americans have searched for
living pterosaurs in the southwest Pacific
Introduction to the Sightings
Does a live pterodactyl fly over villages of some
southwest Pacific islands? Many testimonies do
suggest nocturnal long-tailed creatures (called
“Rhamphorhynchoids” by some researchers),
having names like “ropen” and “duwas” (Don’t
confuse with “duah,” a Western mistake), live in
both coastal areas of the mainland of Papua New
Guinea and on smaller islands such as Umboi
and Manus. A similar one was seen, in 1971, over
Perth, Australia, while a couple was taking an
evening walk near a sport stadium.
Pterosaurs, not “Flying Dinosaurs”
A common misunderstanding involves calling
pterosaurs “flying dinosaurs.” They are quite a
different kind of animal, not a type of dinosaur.
They are portrayed together in films and on
television, as if all species lived anciently and
became extinct before humans existed. No!
“My living-pterosaur research began around late
2002; I became more actively involved, however,
in 2003, first in communicating with a missionary
in Venezuela. I became fascinated at why natives
living near the Erebato River still never drink the
water from that river.
“Long ago the natives in that area were sometimes
attacked by a ‘giant bat,’ and at least once it killed
a native. Soon after one killing, the monster was
seen defecating into the river. (‘Erebato’ means
bat feces.) This may have happened many genera-
tions ago, but the people still remember it to the
extent that they avoid drinking Erebato water.
In 2004, I led a brief expedition on Umboi Island,
Papua New Guinea, interviewing natives who had
seen the huge nocturnal ropen that flies over that
tropical island and visits the reefs at night.
Duane Hodgkinson’s sighting of the huge
“pterodactyl” on the New Guinea mainland,
in 1944, has given us a dramatic source of
information on the amazing ropen.
During the Second World War, two soldiers,
one of them Duane Hodgkinson, stopped
on a trail west of the town of Finschhafen,
on the mainland of what was then New
Guinea (now Papua New Guinea). After
entering a clearing, they saw a winged
creature take off into the air.
At first assuming it was a bird, it soon be-
came obvious to Hodgkinson that it was a
“pterodactyl” with a wingspan of over
twenty feet; the other soldier had been a
biology student before the war, and he
soon decided to insist on keeping quiet
about their encounter. Be aware that both
men had observed the same thing, and
this became clear to those who interviewed
Hodgkinson in depth, over a period of
months, years later: Garth Guessman and
Jonathan Whitcomb.
The other soldier refused to talk about the
sighting: not because they did not see an
apparent pterosaur with a wingspan that
was similar to that of a small private plane
but because they HAD seen that animal.
In other words, the other man simply did
not want to be ridiculed for reporting an
encounter that could sound impossible.
The appendage at the back of the head of
the flying creature caught Hodgkinson’s
attention. The World War II veteran was
interviewed in 2004, by Jonathan David
Whitcomb, through emails, phone calls,
and a survey form that Whitcomb had
prepared. The eyewitness choose from
among various silhouettes of possible
head crest lengths (and other variations
of appearance), and the final resulting
composite of the head was unlike a bat.
Whitcomb concluded that Hodgkinson
had witnessed a large ropen.
Introduction to the Philosophies
Both negative and positive reactions to these living-
pterosaur investigations deserve attention. Huge
flying pterosaurs, non-extinct, with no photo in a
newspaper and no news flash on television—that
does seem odd. But these investigations in a narrow
branch of cryptozoology deserve careful attention,
not a brusque dismissal.
It’s not that no photograph or video footage exists
anywhere in the world, but those evidences appear
to be few and the Western world seems to be un-
prepared to accept them for what they are.
Western cultural/scientific opinions on pterosaur
extinction need reevaluation. Standard assump-
tions, even when labeled "science," are often taught
in Americans schools, including many colleges and
universities, as if they were unchallengeable facts.
In reality, universal pterosaur extinction is just a
popular idea and is based upon a widely-promoted
and old philosophy: Strict Naturalism.
In some educational circles, any idea appearing to
contradict “Naturalism” is avoided or ridiculed.
That in itself may be a major part of the problem
that prevents many professors from investigating
reports of apparent living pterosaurs or even just
gaining access to those reports.
Ancient extinctions of all pterosaurs and dinosaurs,
an idea repeated consistently in the media and in
educational materials, supports the philosophy of
Strict Naturalism. “Living Pterosaur” research, a
niche of cryptozoology, is considered non-standard
by many biologists, although some naturalists are
involved in other branches of cryptozoology.
Most of those who have been active in this research
have either taken upon themselves the label of
“creationist” or it has been given to them. David
Woetzel, Garth Guessman, Jonathan Whitcomb,
and others have made it clear that they see some
relationship between their scientific investigations
and religion.
That does not mean that those who hold to a non-
Christian philosophy about the origin of life are
more objective or scientific in their investigations
of nature than a scientist who believes in the Bible.
Isaac Newton may have spent more time in the
study of the Bible than he did in scientific work,
but that did not prevent him from achieving great
success in science.
Please keep an open mind to the possibility that
at least some of the living-pterosaur investigators
may have been reasonably objective in their many
hours of work interviewing eyewitnesses and in
analyzing the resulting testimonies.
Are pterosaurs extinct? (Not all of them are.)
Who we are — living-pterosaur investigators
The image at the top of this page is the harbor at Lab Lab,
Umboi Island (Siasi), Papua New Guinea
Copyright 2006-2019 Jonathan Whitcomb
ver-016