What is the ropen?
The ropen is a flying unidentified creature resembling a pterosaur, said to be sighted on the islands of Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific. Its name is said to mean “flying demon” in a local language. It is said to have a long beak and a long tail ending in a diamond shape, with a wingspan of one to several meters.
The ropen that glows at night
The ropen is said to be nocturnal and to fly glowing a pale blue at night. Locally, mysterious lights slowly crossing the night sky have been called “ropen lights.” There is also an eerie tradition that it raids graves to eat the flesh of the dead. Because of such stories, it became a topic among Western researchers as a pterosaur that might still survive, though pterosaurs are thought to have gone extinct about 66 million years ago.
What is the ropen really?
The leading theory is that sightings are large fruit bats (flying foxes) living in Papua New Guinea, or large seabirds such as frigatebirds. The glowing at night is thought to be luminous insects or other lights mistaken for a creature. Another known pterosaur-type cryptid is Africa’s kongamato.
