Indava and Ropen

of Papua New Guinea

Are they the same species of pterosaur?

(Some Americans call them “pterodactyls.”)

Both seem to fly to and from a coast, or reef, apparently to feed at night. Both have solid reputations for living in “caves.” Both are said to be extremely large.

The indava is said to have carried away the villagers’ animals and children in the past (no recent tragedies, though). This resembles the accounts of other areas of Papua New Guinea, for people are said to be carried away by giant flying creatures.

Something else about the lights—that’s the flickering of the indava-light as it begins to get started. This may relate to the “pulsating” light seen by Jim Blume, years earlier, near Manus Island and to the “shimmering” light seen by David Woetzel, in 2004, on Umboi Island.

Investigators, including Jonathan Whitcomb and Paul Nation, believe that both the ropen and the indava are living Rhamphorhynchoid ptero-saurs, with populations in P.N.G.

Paul Nation’s short video of the two indavas was examined by Cliff Paiva, a missile defense physicist, who declared that the images of the two lights were not of meteors, camp fires, auto headlights, a paste-on-the-background hoax, or other common things. Although he was not able to verify any features that would prove the lights were created by pterosaurs, his report is welcome verification that the lights are real.

What a marvelous discovery! What a marvelous opportunity for more discoveries!

Indava and Ropen of Papua New Guinea www.ropens.com/indava March 2008

A new name, for what investigators believe is the same kind of giant flying creature called “ropen” on Umboi Island, is “indava.” A colony of the apparent-pterosaurs is near a remote Village, north-by-northwest of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: an almost inaccessible location in the mainland interior. (expeditions: November of 2006 and March of 2007)

Paul Nation, one of the pioneer ropen investigators, was guided to the remote area by Jacob Kepas and the local villagers. The men watched for night after night as the glowing creatures flew to and from their caves or cliff resting-spots.

One of Paul’s seven sightings was of two indavas flying above the Village; he was able to videotape the creatures for a few seconds. Although the resulting image shows no form, it documents the intense bioluminescence of the creatures. Paul was delighted when the villagers confirmed that what they were all looking at were indavas.

The general pattern of the movements of the lights was like flying creatures that keep just above the forest canopy. They leave for the coast early in the evenings and return to the remote inland areas before sunrise.

Unlike individualistic Umboi Island ropens, the indavas, at times, fly in small groups.

How does the indava resemble the ropen? In the bioluminescence, at least in some details.

For news about these creatures on the mainland of Papua New Guinea, see the news pages of “Pterosaurs Still Living.”

Introduction to philosophical foundation

of living-pterosaur investigations