Pterosaur in Australia and New Zealand

image_pdfimage_print

For years I have maintained the possibility of multiple species of long-tailed pterosaurs still living in various countries of the world. It now seems obvious that at least one species lives in Australia and probably also in New Zealand, for eyewitness accounts have accumulated; it seems unlikely that these giant long-tailed pterosaurs are all stragglers from Papua New Guinea or Indonesia.

Pterosaur Sightings in Australia

“I live in Australia in the state of Victoria near the Dandenong Ranges about 25 klms east of Melbourne . . . I cannot be sure of the year of the sighting . . . but I think it would have been around the late 1990′s.

“. . . about nine o’clock one night . . . full moon and very bright with a cloud bank to the southeast extending to and over the Ranges. Mt. Dandenong is about 2000 feet high and the clouds were much higher than this.

“I glanced to the south and [saw] . . . something flying that appeared to be at the height of light planes that fly around here as Moorabbin Airport is not far away. This thing was at least as large as a light plane, say a Cesna.  It was about 5 klms away and was lazily flapping it’s wings . . . It appeared to be lit up by the moonlight and shining as if it had no feathers. . . . I could see it quite clearly. . . . for about 5 mins whence it disappeared into the cloud bank. I estimate it was flying at a height higher than Mt Dandenong.”

Modern Pterosaur in Australia

“In the early 1990s . . . [I] drove from Perth out to Western Australia . . .  [to] see the outback . . . set up the tent . . . and wanted to see the sun go down . . . [something] looked like an airplane, far away. . . . maybe a couple hundred feet [high]. . . . it got nearer to me, I noticed that the wings were actually flapping gently. . . . color was a dark tan. . . . no sound. It was getting closer . . . had a wingspan [of about] 15 or 20 feet. It got close . . . leathery . . . no feathers at all.”

Giant Pterosaurs in Australia

East Coast of Australia

During his farm chores, between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., he [a boy of about twelve years old] . . . saw a large creature with wings. It was on the roof of the shed, just above the door where he had recently been standing.

Although terrified, the boy had a brief view of the body and wings of the creature. It was larger than an average man six feet tall, with wings that folded to the side and back, reminiscent of bat wings.

New Zealand Flying Slasher Pterosaur

Across New Zealand, North Islands farmland and countryside, there have been for almost a century tales from farmers and hunters, of a horrid winged beast, with long sharp fangs lining its narrow, beak-like jaws. Its eyes gleam in the night, where it can be seen flying overhead, shillouted in the moon. Farmers despise it because it tears chunks from their cattle in the nightime. It is called “The Flying Slasher.”

2 Replies to “Pterosaur in Australia and New Zealand”

Comments are closed.