In the New Guinea mainland, there have been reports of the duas(pronounced dew'-os)  Duas is what the creature is called in the southern portion of Umboi Island, the largest island of the Siassi Island Chain. In the Northern parts of Umboi Island the same creature is called ropen, which means demonic flying or transformer (their ancestors believed a sorceress, or witch, changed back and forth from a human to a pterosaur, and some still believe this).  Every PNG language group has its own name for the creature.  The latest name we have heard of is on the mainland.  It is indava, which means messenger of death.  The creature is described as having the a crest pointing out of the back of it's head, elongated beak with no teeth, and leathery wings. Some creatures have attained enormous wingspans of over 25 feet and are known to sometimes carry away native children, and even adults. However most creatures have a wingspan of around 10 to 16 feet. While Dr. Carl Baugh was on an expedition in Papua New Guinea, a man told him about being attacked and carried away by a duas. After crossing a distance of about 30 feet, the creature dropped him onto the ground below, because of the man's frantic struggle.

      A man named Mr. Smithhurst in 1875, was the engineer of a steamer in which he sailed on a newly discovered river. While on the river the natives told him about a strange bird that was large enough to carry away a kangaroo. Later, he actually saw the bird and said that it had a wingspan of about 18 feet, had a dark brown body, a long straight beak, and a long neck. The sound of the wings flapping was like a locomotive pulling a long stream of cars.

     In 1944, an American soldier with the 43^rd Artillery named Duane Hodgkinson, was on an assignment in Finscafen, New Guinea. He and his companions were startled when a giant pterosaur-like creature flew near them.

     It is very possible that pterosaurs did not go extinct, but survived. According to the evolutionary timescale pterosaurs disappeared many millions of years ago and could never been seen by the human eye.

    If you have seen anything like the picture above please e-mail me about your sighting. Please include every detail. E-mail address is phillip@livingdinos.com