Could this fruit-eating bat make
villagers fear to walk alone in the night? Could it make Americans and Australians think that they
saw a featherless flying creature with a tail longer than ten feet?
Despite a scene in one of the Indiana Jones movies, Flying Fox fruit bats are harmless to people. Not so the truly giant
flying creature of Papua New Guinea that sometimes attacks, and even kills, humans. It is rare, with few individual creatures
doing so, however.
"How rarely have Western visitors asked natives of Papua New Guinea about giant flying creatures! (That is, until the
creationist-lead ropen expeditions that began in the 1990's.) What visitor from any developed country would ask about
a bat-like animal larger than a Flying Fox? It would seem unscientific to give credence to apparently superstitious
accounts of dragons or magical creatures of the night. Western books about biology decree that the Flying Fox is the largest
living featherless flying fauna. But why do native eyewitness testimonies include several details that suggest Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs?
The giant flying things of Papua New Guinea, when seen clearly, have long tails and at least a few eyewitnesses have
seen a prominent structure at the end of the tail: something shaped like a 'diamond.' How do I know what natives have seen?
I am one of those few who have visited remote areas and interviewed villagers, asking them about giant flying creatures."