Do Pterosaurs Still Exist?

I'm not sure if this has been posted, haven't seen it anywhere yet.

Pretty much the article is about locals and zoologist in Papua New Guinea belive that the Pterosaurs still exist in the area, due to first hand sightings, and giant nests in the tree tops.

Pterosaurs are ferocious flying dinosaurs thought to have been extinct for 65 million years. However, there is physical evidence of gigantic nesting sites in some of the mountainous cliff areas of Papua New Guinea. What's more the natives there have been reported as being fearful of animals that fit their description and given eyewitness accounts.

Source

I find it an interesting read, not just for this species and area, but i've always been fascinated how certain animals have survived, when so many more were taken out, such as turtles and certain sharks. It makes me wounder how many of these dinosaurs might still exist out there.

Thoughts?

I find this an interesting subject. There are quite a few places in the world where they have been allegedly spotted.

Has there been any decent photographic evidence?, I have seen some photos but they were horrible quality and think they were found out to be fakes.

Been looking into it, i can't find any, which throws up flags to me, if so many people have seen them, then why aren't there any pictures? This makes me want to call up hoax alone, we live in an age were 3 people can go down there and record these nests and other "hotspots" for weeks.

They exist and are reported all over the u.s. regularly.,

there is allready a threat about this.

Living dinosaur found (+video)

I remember seeing a thread, on here if I remember correctly, not too long ago on this subject. Had a few screen caps of the youtube video they were posting.

Anyway, I would see it as a plausible. We say that all dinosaurs are extinct, but we know next to nothing about the world. We've mapped approximately 12% of the ocean (usually percentages vary, but this seems to be the average) and we can't monitor everything above sea at all times.

The Coelecanth was supposedly extinct as well, but that's obviously not so as we find living examples of them quite often as of late. It's certainly possible, I wouldn't shoot the idea down.

I found a video on youtube that looked interesting.
At first it kind of reminds me of a sea bird like a tern. But most of those birds have u shaped tails.
not straight like in the video.

interesting video either way.

While on holiday in Papua New Guinea with my wife, I filmed this flying creature. It just looked like a bird from a distance, but when it flew directly overhead we saw that it quite large (wingspan about 10 feet) and it had no feathers. This is the first part when I grabbed my camera while it was directly overhead.

reply to post by grey580


I've heard stories about the Ropen hanging around Papua New Guinea. It's the local name for a pterosaur-like creature that is usually seen at night because it emits some weird blinking florescent light from its body (that attracts prey, I suppose). Saw it on a TV show once, not sure how credible the show itself was but the locals definitely believed in it.

Originally posted by grey580
I found a video on youtube that looked interesting.
At first it kind of reminds me of a sea bird like a tern. But most of those birds have u shaped tails.
not straight like in the video.

interesting video either way.

Only really interesting in that so many people that are supposedly interested in cryptozoology can mistake a Frigate Bird for Pterosaurs.

FRIGATE BIRD

In 2006 myself and two of my students were standing outside of my karate school. My school was located on route 119 south (South main Street) connected to the Westmoreland County Blind Association. In Southwest Greensburg PA. This is by no means a rural area.

It was mid summer around 8pm after class. We were talking about martial arts and just enjoying the weather. I was looking out over a small tree line that covered the end of the lot about 60 feet away from me when i noticed a large black bird in the sky.

I observed it for about 2 minuets as it flew towards us very slowly (it seemed slow) until it was maybe another 50 feet away from the tree line. It also appeared to be roughly 200 to 300 feet in the air. That is why one reason it caught my eye. Being that far up the "birds" body still appeared to be much larger than my 100 pound dog (wider and longer).

I called my students attention to it and they were both instantly mesmerized. The wing span appeared to be at least 6 feet and although it was a bit away from us you could clearly make out a long "horn" or "cone" type protrusion coming out of the back of its skull,which was at the end of an elongated neck.

This "bird" also seemed to have a long tail, I would compare it to a rat but a little shorter and thicker. it appeared to be jet black with some dull brown in certain spots and it also had a long "snout" that may have been curved downwards at the end.

The wings also looked odd to me, they looked to be connected to the body and the clearly visible "arms" in the same manner as a bat. As it was almost directly over us we all agreed we couldn't see feathers anywhere and my student Carrie said "It looks like pterodactyl, oh my God doesn't it?" I was glad she said it and not me LOL.

The "bird" was descending and it had its talons or feet jutted out and forward. It flew over top us and landed in the water behind the school. It was like city run off or whatever and was in a concrete ravine about 15 feet deep (the water was probably 3 feet deep or so).

We could here it splashing around, and Carrie ran around the building to see it. There are always ducks in that water as well as rats and other things. When she came back in like 3 minuets she said it had taken off, Carrie said it was in the water splashing and eating or grabbing something in its mouth.

She described it as being at least 3 or 4 feet above the water with the rest submerged under the 3 or 4 feet of water. Carrie stated that it looked "slick" and "smooth" actually shiny with NO FEATHERS and thet it did indeed have a long "beak" and boney protrusion on the back of its head.

Long Long Long story short we are not 100% sure what we saw but we did have an idea of what it was and it was not a bird. The crazy thing is we still don't want to call it what we all know it was LOL.

Everyone will say pics or it didn't happen and yes we all had cell phones with cameras. I will tell you that it never even crossed my mind to take a picture we were just so caught up in and in disbelief and maybe even in shock of what we were seeing.

This looks really interesting. Man if this is real, it'd be one heck of a discovery.

I also heard about another such prehistoric animal living in the Congo region.
The Mokele Mbembe.

Maybe I'm getting confused with a fictional story but didn't some Edwardian or Victorian explorers actually bring back from some far flung tropical island, an actual live creature that was believed to be a pterodactyl? If I remember rightly, it either only lived for a short period or actually escaped somehow and went flying off over Victorian London.

Anyone heard of this story or can correct me about it?

not very likely. Pterosaurs during their mesozoic eventually got out competed by birds in jungle habitats. Pterosaurs have the most chance of doing well in large open area's where they should have been spotted by now. Basically places where you can expect a pterosaur: shorelines and wide open plains.

Also these creatures are not dinosaurs. They are fairly closely related and are most likely warmblooded as well.

When I think about the possibility of dinosaurs existing today, I always go back to a program I watched on the BBC once called 'Land Of The Lost Volcano' where a group of naturalists went into the Mount Bosavi crator in New Guinea and discovered many new animals, new species of spider, insect, bird, marsupial and mammal were discovered. Nobody had been to this place, not even local tribesmen, so there was no idea what would be discovered there. My favorite one was this giant rat, I thought he was incredably sweet, being a rat owner myself: news.bbc.co.uk...



So if it is possible for these things to exist and for us not to know about them for so long, then is it possible for some 'prehistoric' creatures to have survived the turbulent prehistoric periods and thrive in the cut off corners of the world today?

Both these new animals, and these sightings are reported from the same place, coencidence or something much more facinating?

However if this were proven to be true, how long would it be before hunters slapped bounties on DINOSAURS, and went trotting off into the jungle with guns to blast them down from their nests in a race to see who can bring home the first ever dinosaur hunting trophy

enter DarkDevilRay ~

reply to post by doom27


That story by Teri Wynn seems to me to be a combination of truth and error, with no references and no names of eyewitnesses or cryptozoologists except one: David Woetzel. Let's begin with correcting an error with what Wynn reports that Woetzel experienced.

Wynn says, "One of the researchers, David Woetzel, has said that he recorded images of the animals while studying them." But in Woetzel's 2004 expedition on Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea, he did not record any image during his brief sighting of the ropen light. The American cryptozoologist had only a few seconds, much too little time to get out his camcorder, attach the battery, power up the unit, remove the lens cover, and then record the image of the flying light.

Ropen Light Seen By Woetzel

Perhaps Wynn is confusing Woetzel's sighting with Paul Nation's sighting in late 2006. Woetzel has commented on that video recording of the flying light we believe is from the bioluminescence of large pterosaurs.

reply to post by doom27


Continuing with that Teri Wynn story, he seems to be supportive of the possibility of modern living pterosaurs, but many of his remarks suggest to me shallow research or poor sources of information. I am grateful that he has spoken out about this subject, but his story calls for corrections and explanations.

Wynn says, "There were reports of razor sharp teeth and claws and a lengthy whip-like tail with a split or flange at the end" (apparently regarding native reports in Papua New Guinea). Where does anyone (other than Wynn) mention any "whip-like" tail or any "split" at the end of the tail? To the best of my memory, nobody anywhere. (I have written two nonfiction books on living pterosaurs, both in the second edition: I have been researching this subject for seven and a half years.)

I do recognize some of Wynn's statements that compare well with some aspects of some eyewitness accounts, but there are many other online articles on living pterosaurs, many of which have far fewer errors than Wynn's and give detailed references for the information presented. For example:

Ropens of Papua New Guinea

reply to post by kcs7272


Thank you for sharing in so much detail on this sighting. It reminds me of many other reports, from the United States and other parts of the world: featherless flying creature with a long tail and a structure at the back of the head, a structure suggesting a pterosaur head crest.

Besides Pennsylvania, other states have reported sightings: California, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, South Carolina, Ohio, New York, Georgia, Ohio, Kansas, Arkansas, Wisconsin, and Washington state, etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if some thawed out of the ice shelf that broke free in Antarctica. Is it possible that chemtrails are used as a repellant?

reply to post by doom27


Regarding the Teri Wynn page (again), he does not explain his statement that "there is physical evidence of gigantic nesting sites in some of the mountainous cliff areas of Papua New Guinea." I don't say that this is questionable itself, for I have seen Paul Nation's video of some cliffs above the Tawa Village area of Papua New Guinea (deep in the mainland interior); those cliffs appear to me to have huge white streaks that remind me of bird poop on cliffs where birds nest.

I do not question Wynn's "nesting sites" statement itself, but I wish he would add some detail or reference for his many statements.