(KSN) According to Wikipedia, “The Smithsonian Institution was founded for the ‘increase and diffusion’ of knowledge.” But a blog post on the Smithsonian site seems to condemn any person involved with searching for living dinosaurs or living pterosaurs. The author of the post, Brian Switek, mentions “hucksters,” “overly-credulous wildlife enthusiasts,” and “showmen,” not mentioning names at first. When he does mention names, they are “Jim Blume” and “David Woetzel,” and he dismisses them because they are “creationist explorers.” Switek’s post is evaluated on another blog: “Ropen Dismissed by Smithsonian.”

At the end of the Smithsonian blog post, after seeming to condemn anyone who has searched for living pterosaurs, Switek admits the possibility that a long-tailed pterosaur might still be living.

(ksn) A new theory to explain the mysterious dancing lights of Marfa, Texas, has been suggested by a cryptozoologist in California. Jonathan Whitcomb, of Long Beach, compares the Marfa Lights, sometimes called “ghost lights,” of southwest Texas to flying lights, in the southwest Pacific, called “ropen” in Papua New Guinea. According to natives of those tropical islands, the ropen is a large flying creature. Those few eyewitnesses who have seen it describe a giant pterosaur-like animal, with no feathers and a long tail. In Texas, some eyewitnesses have described a long-tailed “pterodactyl.”

Whitcomb says, “It may not be a coincidence that a few Texans have seen apparent living pterosaurs and many Texans have seen flying lights that seem to move intelligently; in some remote tropical islands, a few natives have seen similar large featherless flying creatures and many natives have seen similar lights.” The cryptozoology author believes that bioluminescent flying creatures in Texas may be hunting and eating the Big Brown Bat, in addition to other small animals of southwest Texas; in Papua New Guinea, the ropen may feed mostly on reef fish or clams. Whitcomb had explored Umboi Island in 2004, interviewing natives.